Bleached Slayer
by Emotwo
Summary: Takes place in the Bleach-universe. After Aizen's betrayal, Soul Society is in need of new generals. Enter one Lina Inverse, a lost soul from an forgotten age. Will this shinigami-in-training restore order to the Gotei 13 or throw it into greater chaos?
1. Chapter 1

**Bleached Slayer**

"Are we there yet?" sounded one Zaraki Kenpachi as the small group of high-level individuals made their way through the dark and dusty inner regions of Hueco Mundo. The group had travelled through the white desert for days on end at an impressive pace, only being slightly slowed down by the numerous hollow-attacks, though considering they were all captain-class the thing that had truly taken time was getting Kenpachi to quit chasing the (surviving) hollows afterwards.

"Hey, clown-face! Are we there yet?!" He shouted, annoyed at being ignored, again, by his two silent companions.

Shit-tards, the both of them.

"What did you just say, you imbecile?!" Screeched Kurotsuchi Mayuri as if his mother's honor had been insulted. Though those that knew of the guy would doubt if he'd ever had either one of the two things.

"I said are we there yet, freak. What, your hearing going out after experimenting so much on that body of yours?"

"SHIIIII! Perhaps I should start experimenting on YOU then! It's about high time we found out just how such a lower species like yourself could have such a ridiculous amount of reiatsu."

"Hooh? Is that a threat?" Kenpachi grinned, pulling his blade.

"Be silent the both of. You're captains. Try to behave like it." Sounded from the one in front, leading the group.

"Forget it Kuchiki! For three days straight this oaf has been nothing but an annoyance! I say it's time we rid ourselves of this nuisance once and for all!"

"You're welcome to try the both of you. Heh heh heh." Kenpachi licked his blade.

"Do recall that Zaraki is a vital part of this operation. His large reserve of reiatsu may turn out to be crucial if we are to succeed here. Now quit bickering like children and make haste. We cannot stay too long away from Soul Society in these times." Byakuya emotionlessly drolled on as he continued trekking forward.

"Hnf." "Keh." Was all the response he received as the two other captains started to sprint as well.

"ROOOAARRR!!!" a massive Hollow bellowed as it attacked from the side, only to be sliced in two in the blink of an eye by Kenpachi.

"No, you cretin! How many times to I have to tell you?! Do NOT slay the Hollows! We need them alive for this!" Mayuri screeched.

"Che, it was only a weak one. We got like hundreds of them chasing us a mile behind or so." Kenpachi shrugged, lazily pointing over his shoulder where a massive dust-cloud could be seen in the horizon.

The group had alternated between running and Shunpo-ing all the way since they'd entered Hueco Mundo choosing to circle around most stronger hollows they sensed in their path rather than dispatching them. Eventually they were dragging a rather large group of followers big and small, all dead-set on setting their fangs into the tasty intruders.

It was a pity really that they could not realize that they didn't stand a chance against these certain individuals, and that the only reason they weren't dead already was because the captains had a motive for letting these monsters tail them (though Kenpachi conveniently "forgot" from time to time and struck down one or twenty).

It goes without saying that this procedure was also why none of the captains could bring along any of their subordinates as they simply wouldn't be able to keep up and only get in the way.

"Still, we'll need every last one we can acquire unless we want this to become a suicide-mission." Byakuya shot in from his position upfront, not even looking back as he answered.

"Yeah, yeah, I know. For this "glorious mission to restore balance to the 13 Divisions", right? Hmf! Are you certain this isn't a big waste of time? I could've gone to the human world with Ikkaku and the lot instead. Would've given me an opportunity to challenge Ichigo again. Heh heh." The grin on Kenpachi's face as he finished was certain to send shivers down the young Kurosaki's back no matter how far on the other end of universe he might've been at the moment.

"Our information comes from… trustworthy sources." Byakuya replied, somewhat struggling with the "trustworthy" part.

* * *

FLASHBACK

At the Court of Pure Souls the remaining of the 13 captains were gathered for a meeting in the aftermath of the "ryoka-incident". Old Yamamoto Genryuusai, captain of the first division, banged his cane into the floor calling attention to himself.

"There are but a few months until the Hyogoku fully awakens and Aizen takes action. During this spawn of time we must do everything we can to barricade his movements and restore balance to the 13 divisions. Our sudden lack of Three Captains is not something we can take likely." He banged his cane once more for emphasis.

"We may want to send a small platoon to the living world for quick response to any potential attacks" Hitsugaya Toushirou suggested, doing his best to simply appear annoyed and bored at the same time.

"As well as focus on the training of potential replacements for our lack of captains. There are several among our ranks that has the potential I believe, don't you agree Captain Kuchiki." Unohana Retsu offered, gesturing to the captain of the 6th division.

"If you're reffering to Abarai Renji then I wouldn't recommend it. Though he may have achieved Bankai, he's much too inexperienced with it still." Byakuya replied, stone-faced as ever

"These are dire times though. We may want to resort to any option we've got left to us." Komamura Sajin voiced, still seeming somewhat uncomfortable after just recently having quit wearing his mask.

"Hmm, what's the matter Jyuushiro? You're wearing your "thinking-expression"." Kyouraku Shunsui said, calling the attention of the room on the captain of the 13th division who was looking down with his hand on his jaw, obviously lost in thought.

"Hm? AH, No, nothing! I was just thinking." Ukitake blurted out, surprised to find everyone's eyes trained on him. "It really was nothing."

"Need I remind you," Soi Fong started, clearly agitated "That we're not in a situation where we can hesitate with our actions. If you've got an idea then spit it out."

"Though I disagree with Captain Soi's way of phrasing it, I would also like to hear your idea." Unohana gently coaxed.

Ukitake, seeing that he wasn't getting out of this, visually deflated before he regained his composure and addressed the commander. "There may be a way to quickly fill at least one of the holes in our ranks, but the possibility may be dubious at best."

Yamamoto arched an eyebrow meaningfully. "Go on."

"Thank you. Umm… I believe this is something very few have heard of nowadays, but apparently there is a legendary monument hidden deep in Hueco Mondo known as it's heart"

The captains gave Ukitake a dubious look under which he cringed, but Yamamoto spoke up. "I know of this. It's an ancient story that supposedly dates back to before the creation of Soul Society." he said, stroking his beard.

"A legend? Oi, oi, you're not telling us to put faith in some fogey old children-story, are you?" Hitsugaya retorted, making Ukitake flinch again.

"I'm curious though. Could you explain Commander?" Unohana said, addressing the elder.

Yamamoto stroked his beard for a second before beginning. "It was said that at the end of a previous age, the ancient gods rebelled against their Lord, casting the structure of the world into chaos. To oppose this, the Lord of Lords placed it's faith onto one legendary warrior to stop the world,

("was it worlds?" he muttered)

"from descending into oblivion. Apparently it took the rebelling gods' final strength to imprison this warrior, thus existence was saved, but only at the last minute. By then the world was a blank slate needing to be rewritten and it's after these events our world came to be. Story has it that a monument remains at the final battleground somewhere in the depths of Hueco Mundo."

Silence reigned through the room for a few seconds as this tale sunk in.

"It's just an old bedtime-story though" Yamamoto quipped, causing most of the captains to break into almost-facefaults at the sudden break in tension.

"Then we're simply wasting time here!" Soi Fong raged, pointing an accusatory finger at Ukitake.

"But the thing is this monument exists! I have a source who know of its location!" Ukitake defended desperatly.

"And what would we find there, huh?!"

"Historic runes?"

"An old rusty weapon perhaps?"

"The legendary warrior." All eyes turned to Yamamoto who had uttered that last statement. "Isn't that so, Ukitake?"

"Y-yes. Apparently the warrior's soul still remains sealed there to this day. I've heard that it tries to drain the reiatsu of anything within a certain area so even the Hollows can't approach it. That's probably why almost no one knows of it's location. They didn't make it back to report it."

"Hmm." Yamamoto stroke his beard in thought as the captains discussed this among themselves.

"A legendary warrior, huh? Interesting" Kenpachi smirked to himself.

"Umm, I know it's a long-shot, but…" Ukitake eventually voiced up.

"Nevertheless, it's a possibility and as stated we have to investigate every option given to us."

Ukitake visibly relaxed, before he stiffened as the commander raised his next question. "There's just one thing."

"Y-yes?"

"Who exactly is this source of yours?" Yamamoto asked with a hint of trepidation.

Ukitake seemed to gather his nerves before weakly letting out. "Urahara Kisuke."

Everyone present sighed.

END FLASHBACK

* * *

It was thus decided that while Hitsugaya would gather a group to patrol the mortal realm, Byakuya, Kenpachi and Mayuri would venture into the heart of Hueco Mondu following Urahara's directions. It was questioned why Ukitake wasn't nominated to go seeing it was his idea, but after witnessing him break into another one of his coughing-fits it was unanimously agreed that he probably wouldn't even survive such a trip.

They needed to be quick about it though since they couldn't afford to leave Soul Society that heavily unguarded for too long with Aizen about.

"Well?" Kenpachi stated as they kept dashing across the desert.

"Well what?" Mayuri asked.

"Are we there yet?"

Before Mayuri could blow his top again, Byakuya decided to answer. "In fact, we are. Look in the horizon."

Both of the other captains immediately looked ahead seeing that everything before their eyes levelled out into a completely flat and barren wasteland, even more so than usual because there wasn't even the slightest HINT of life or vegetation anywhere (read: the every so often barren tree or hollow-insect). Even the landscape had flattened out instead of going in dunes and hills as the rest of the desert.

What they COULD see though was a golden crystal, about 15 feet in size supported by four others ranging from red to black to blue and to green in color.

"That's it, huh? It's a lot smaller than I expected."

No longer had Kenpachi uttered those words before the golden crystal had started to faintly glow. At that instant, all three captains felt a tremendous drain on their reiatsu.

"We must've entered its vicinity!" Mayuru bellowed, knees buckling under the pressure. "It can sense our reiatsu and is trying to feed on it!"

"As Urahara explained, whatever is inside there must be subconsciously noticing our presence and trying to gather the energy needed to break free." Byakuya stated. "Commence the operation immediately." He ordered.

"I know what to do!" Kenpachi grumbled as they broke out of the crystal's reach and started to backtrack, heading towards the ever-growing stampede that'd been chasing them. They then broke off in different directions, circling around the mob of Hollows until they were on the other side.

What followed then was the most deranged example at herding cattle ever to be performed. Between flashing their reiatsu and demonstrating their immense superiority in strength it wasn't long before the three captains had the gigantic flock of Hollows on the run, leaving them with only one way to run: Towards the crystal.

Before they realised what was happening, it was too late. The Hollows' reiatsu were drained like through a straw, leaving only empty husks which disintegrated and turned into dust on the spot. The golden crystal continued to lap up the energy and the more it got, the faster it started to absorb. Soon the massive Hollow-army was nothing but just a few dozen, mostly consisting of Adjuchas and even the rare Vasto lorde as they had bigger reiatsu-reserves and thus took a longer time to absorb. They couldn't escape from the "dead-zone" though because each time they tried a captain was there to violently boot them back in.

As the hollows were devoured the golden crystal steadily started to grow cracks spreading across its entire surface. But as the last hollows finally kicked the big one, something unforeseen happened. The crystal expanded it's reach, violently grabbing hold of the shinigamis reiatsu and drinking away at a horrifying pace.

"Ung! The hell?!"

"It appears the amount of hollows we gathered simply weren't enough. It's reach must've expanded as it's close to breaking free." Byakuya grunted.

"Dammit, this is your fault Zaraki!! This is because you killed TOO many of them!!" Mayuri bellowed, down on all fours under the intense pressure.

"Bite. Me. Clown." Kenpachi grunted.

"Zaraki! Remove your eyepatch!" Byakuya ordered. Kenpachi grinned before complying, removing the parasite that kept his reiatsu at bay and let loose his massive reserves.

In that instant their respective burdens lightened and the captains shunpo-ed out of there and beyond the crystal's reach.

Halting at a safe distance, the three gazed at the crystal as it vibrated franticly.

"... Is this a mission failure then?"

"No, observe. Instead of vanishing, the gathered reiatsu inside of it trashes around more violently."

"With freedom at it's fingertips, it would appear that it's digging into its own reserves desperately. Ku ku ku. Like a caged animal finally spotting its chance to flee, even if it has to gnaw off it's own leg to do so." Mayuri remarked amused.

And indeed the crystal seemed to do just that. The energy trashing around in it caused the ground to start quaking until the four crystals supporting the golden one broke down, allowing it to finally explode apart in a massive blast of energy that reverberated across the sky forcing the captains to shield their eyes. As the light started to dim, they observed a small figure falling from what was once the crystals center, hitting the ground with a soft thud. Falling as well was a sword that imbedded itself into the ground beside the figure.

As the captains finally approached walking across sand-spots that had been turned into glass during the energy-onslaught, they could spot a human-figure lying on the desert floor. A rather SMALL human-figure.

"This is it? THIS is the warrior?! It's just a kid!" Kenpachi guffawed, nudging at the prone form with his foot. "And a really scrawny one at that!"

"This is a clear deviation from my expectations as well. What is the meaning of this Kuchiki?!" Mayuri said, apparently frustrated.

Byakuya remained silent for a few moments, observing the figure. Finally he picked up the sword imbedded in the ground and started to walk away saying. "Whatever its form or age may be, you both experienced that explosion of reiatsu yourself. Whether she'll appear a valuable resource to the Gotei 13 or not is up to the Commander to judge. Cover her up and carry her Zaraki. We will start heading back immediately."

"Yeah, yeah." Kenpachi mumbled, taking off his captain-jacket and wrapping the girl up in it before picking her up. He then started trailing after the two other captains who were already dashing towards Soul Society.

As the group zoomed across the desert at an even faster pace than they had travelled earlier, Kenpachi mused at the child in his arms.

"Just look at her." He mumbled, staring down at the redhaired girl as he ran. "She's almost smaller than that Rukia-chick. Heh! That's probably why Kuchiki didn't ditch you right there." He snickered.

"Hn…?" Someone responded weakly. "Who's Kuchiki…?"

"Hm? You awake brat?" Kenpachi mused, noting that the girl's eyes were an even deeper shade of red than her hair. What little he could see of them anyway as they were only half-open and glazed over.

"What's happening…? Who… are you…?"

"An ally. At least for the moment anyway." He grinned sinisterly. "What's your name brat?"

"Lnh…" she mumbled, struggling to stay conscious.

"What?"

"Lina… It's Lina Inverse." And with that, the girl's world turned black.

END CHAPTER 1

* * *

Preview: 

Kyouraku: By the way Jyuushiro.

Ukitake: Hm? What is it?

Kyouraku: This warrior, doesn't he/she have some spesific name or title? The "legendary warrior" sounds so vague if you ask me.

Ukitake: Ah, about that. I'm not to sure on the details, but it seems that the warrior had several.

Kyouraku: Such as?

Ukitake: Well... There's the "Bandit-killer", the "Dragon-spooker", the "enemy of all who live" and so on. There's so many.

Kyouraku: ... sweatdrop So basicly they shortened it to just the "legendary warrior" to avoid confusion?

Ukitake: That would seem to be the case, yes.

Lina: Shut up! What does that have to do with anything? Do the preview properly already!

Byakuya: You have no time left.

Lina: WHAT?!!

* * *

Shinigami's Cup. Golden!

"So you see," Urahara began as the captains prepared to enter Hueco Mondo. "In order to find the monument you must first turn left at the sand-dune, right at the barren tree and then you will follow the second path for three days in the directon of where the sun rise. If you have any trouble then consult the map I made you. Good luck gentlemen." he smiled.

Later as the generals stood looking over the barren desert cast in eternal night, they rolled out the map and studied it. What they found was a mostly blank sheet with a mark saying "You are here." followed by a straight line down the map which went to another mark, saying "You need to get here."

The captains looked blankly at the "map" for a few seconds until Byakuya raised his head and spoke.

"What a truly infuriating man."

They stood there in silence as a gust of wind blew by.

* * *

Disclaimer: I don't own anything. I intend to change that. 

At the very least though, I do not own Bleach or Slayers.


	2. Chapter 2

**Bleached Slayer**

Chapter 2

The sun's position in the sky declared that it was early noon in Soul Society. The streets of the Court of Pure Souls brimmed with activity as countless shinigamis ran around performing different tasks, some of them motivated, some of them bored out of their skull, and some who apparently wanted to get their tasks done like their lives depended on it. ..which probably was the case given the nature of some of their officers.

Needless to say, the place was busy and it was the sounds of this hustle and bustle that encouraged a certain bedridden patient in the 4th division headquarters to open her eyes for the first time in a week. (Give or take a few millennia if you'd want to be picky about it.)

Beep.

Said patient laid there blinking for several moments before she was able to focus, noticing that she was looking at an unknown roof.

Obviously not satisfied with the view she decided to look around from her position, moving as few muscles as possible.

Beep.

"… Where's this?" was the logical thing to say, her voice sounding weak and hoarse.

The room she was in looked like some sort of hospital room, a private one she noted, but though she could recognise it's overall purpose, the structure and material the room was composed of, not to mention some of the scarier-looking devices like that annoying beeping thing were completely foreign to her.

Beep.

Though her instincts and experience demanded that she got up to assess her situation, her body wanted nothing more than to simply return to the bliss of sleep.

Beep.

Yes, sleep. A simple plan. Just close her eyes and let her aching body and mind recuperate for as long as it would demand.

Beep.

Screw it. That thing had to die.

Bee-**CRASH!!**

Sorceress-extraordinaire Lina Inverse, now fully awake and on her feet, slowly picked her fist up from where she had smashed it through the infernal device.

"Che. Finally!" She snorted, content with putting the thing out of her misery.

Lifting her head, her eyes were drawn to the open window, the curtains waving lightly in the breeze as she was drawn towards the sounds that had originally stirred her awake.

What she ended up seeing certainly wasn't anywhere close to Atlas City, hell, she doubted she was even close to the continent it was on.

The architecture of the buildings was made in what she recognised as an eastern style, somehow looking both older and newer than those she had witnessed before. Even if she hadn't been familiar with such from her travels, the myriads of people running back and forth in black robes, "hakamas" and "kimonos" she noted, should've been enough to tip her off.

'Sheesh, what a dull dress code though. Would it kill them to wear something just a little bit more colourful', she thought, picking at the white robes she found herself wearing.

There was something about the air too. Something… unworldly.

"Ara. You're awake I see."

Whirling around, Lina fixed her gaze on the woman who'd just spoke. She was a serene-looking woman with a thick braid coming down in the front. She also wore a white jacket on top of what seemed to be the common uniform around here, clearly setting her apart from those she'd seen outside. Lina's main focus though was how had this woman managed to enter the room without her noticing. That fact alone, more than any other was enough to put her on guard.

"Who are you? And for that matter, where am I?" Lina asked, her body assuming a ready-position.

"Calm down dear." The woman replied, gesturing with her hands as she noticed Lina tensing up. "If I were an enemy I could've attacked you while you were still asleep, don't you think so, miss Inwards?"

"Ok, point." Lina admitted as she relaxed her stance. Then something else sunk in. "Inverse!!" she suddenly shouted angrily.

"I beg your pardon?" Unohana said confused.

"My name! It's Inverse!! Not Inwards!!" she growled, for some reason crossing her arms over her breasts as if to cover them.

"Ah, I see." Unohana said calmly, pulling out a clipboard and began writing. "I will have to make changes to the forms then."

"As for your questions," she continued, tucking away her clipboard. "I am Unohana Retsu, commander and head medic of Gotei 13's 4th division. As for where you are, you are in my headquarters which is the medical centre of the Court of Pure Souls."

"Gotei 13? Court of Pure Souls? What's that supposed to mean?" Lina quirked an eyebrow.

"The 13 Division Imperial Guards. We, the shinigami of Soul Society are divided up into 13 divisions that…"

"Hold up! Hold up! Shinigami? Death Gods? Are you telling me that you are a Grim Reaper??" Lina asked, thoroughly confused. She had suspected the woman wasn't human, but a death god?

"Well I wouldn't exactly call myself grim, but yes." Unohana replied, walking closer. "Please sit down dear. I need to run a diagnostic." Lina being too put out for the moment sat down on the bed without a word.

"Th-then, are you saying everyone out there are shinigami as well?? This isn't the living world??"

"That's indeed how it is." Unohana replied as she ran her glowing hands over Lina's body, running her diagnosis Lina figured as she sat still as a stone.

"Everyone here exists to guide lost souls either here to Soul Society or to hell. You… seem to be quite put out by all this. Are you really unfamiliar with Soul Society as a whole?" Unohana said, sitting down next to Lina as she finished her scan.

"This is the first I hear of any of it. This is the after-life huh? Wait. Why am I here? Are you saying I'm dead?" Lina squeaked.

"I'm afraid that is the case. Um, listen. I realize this may be a bit of a shock to you, but…" Unohana began in a comforting tone as Lina had started to shake, only to be surprised as the girl shot to her feet.

"This means this place is heaven, right?!" She half-shouted, whirling around energetically to grin into the other woman's face to which Unohana could only nod dumbly. "Why yes, there are mortals who refer to Soul society as…"

"YOSHA!! Hahahaa! They always said I'd end up in hell, the "Abominable Lina Inverse" my ass!! IN YOUR FACE, ALL OF YOU!!!" Lina kept laughing towards the ceiling with Unohana being quite nonplussed from this unexpected reaction. Lina suddenly went quiet and fell to her knees, alarming Unohana. "Miss Inverse…?"

"… I really am dead aren't I?" Lina let out in a weak voice, her back facing Unohana. "I can sorta remember it happen but… Wait!! The Dark Lords!! The human world, is it still…?!!" she shot to her feet, stopping as the taller woman grabbed her shoulders gently.

"I may not know the exact circumstances of your death, but I can assure you that the human world still exists. By that fact alone, it appears you won." she smiled gently.

Using a few moments to absorb the information, Lina's look of disbelief slowly changed into a smile before she once again sank to her knees, muttering: "Thank Goodness. Thank Goodness…"

"You must've carried such a heavy burden." Unohana began, smiling warmly down at the "younger" girl. "But thanks to you, the human-world is alive and well. Maybe a little different, but…" she trailed off as Lina wiped her eyes and the room was filled with a comfortable silence.

It ended abruptly though as a ferocious growl sounded and the girl on her knees flattened out completely, face down.

"M-miss Inverse?" Unohana sweatdropped as the smaller girl's stomach let out another inhuman-sounding growl. It sounded quite like an hollow really.

"This is heaven, right? PLEASE tell me that means I can find some food around here!" Lina whined, slinking back to her feet while holding her stomach.

Unohana blinked before giggling.

"But of course. There's a dining hall for our patients down the hall and to the left. Would you like to wash up first before we… go…?" she trailed off as she realized she was talking to thin air.

Finding the door now slightly ajar, Unohana blinked once again.

"That's odd." she remarked. "I didn't think she would be able to use shunpo in her condition."

* * *

"So you were a sorceress?" Unohana asked as they sat at a table in the dining hall. By the time she had made it there Lina was already on her 5th helping and she was showing no sign of stopping any time soon, still stacking empty bowls atop of eachother as she moved on.

"Mwell, yeah." Lina mumbled inbetween bites. "The best one around too. There were hardly anyone who could hold a candle towards me." she smirked, nose in the air, before grabbing another helping, finished with the prefilled bowls. She had apparently managed to secure the entire metal kettle used to supply the rations and kept it on her table for easy access. Unohana quirked an eyebrow at that as Lina continued to wolf down the food at an impressive pace.

"What kind of life did you live then? Did you operate in a guild serving your goverment perhaps?"

"Heck no, I'm an adventurer! I traveled the lands far and wide in search of exitement and treasure. And good food of course." Lina gestured, buttering her bread and pouring herself another helping in her bowl.

"I imagine it must've been quite interesting, journeying across the land like that." From what Lina had described, her world must've resembled the feudal age. A time where danger lurked around any corner, especially for a young girl travelling alone.

Lina paused with a thoughtful look as she poured yet another bowl. "Well it was a lot of fun, but there were a few things every now and then. Like bandit-attacks and evil sorcerers and mazoku and such."

"Mazoku?"

"Demons." Lina clarified. "I always kept getting pulled into some screwy situation where I had to fight off those things." she stated as if she was describing an everyday occurance. To her that wasn't far from the truth.

"Oh my." Unohana remarked, a little put off by the ease the petite girl related this. Demons weren't something a shingami ran into often as they rarely interacted with anything outside of hell. Unohana had barely caught a glimpse of the things as she'd witnessed souls of sinners get pulled into hell. To think they were once running rampant on the living world was a scary image. And this girl had fought with them and won while she was a living human? She'd wanted to inquire more about Lina's era when her musings were cut short as a trio of burly shinigami, obviously from the 11th division, approached their table.

The one who seemed to be the leader, a man with a half-shaved head and a ugly mustache slammed his palm down on the table, gathering the attention of the rest of the room (the few who weren't already gawking at Lina's rapid eating pace).

"Hey brat!" he bellowed, his apparent ire focused on Lina. "Who the hell do you think you are?!"

The trio had earlier been at the supply-table, arguing with (read: harasssing) the 4th division-member who was in charge of pouring the food-rations when they suddenly had been barreled over by a redheaded blur. The unexpected impact had sent them flying a good 20+ feet where they crashed harsly into the wall. The 4th division-member could only stare blankly as Lina had started to excitedly pour up bowl after bowl onto her trays until she eventually decided to run off with the entire kettle as well.

"You have a lot of nerve knocking us over like that." the 2nd 11th division goon, a guy with a mohawk, growled.

"Don't think we'll forgive you just cuz you're a girl." the third man, this one completely bald, sneered.

It seemed that they were so focused on Lina that in their tunnel vision they didn't even notice that the 4th division captain was sitting at the same table.

"What division are you from?" the first man continued. "We from Zaraki's division won't tolerate anyone trying to - Bitch, listen to us!!!" they all yelled at the end as Lina hadn't looked up at them once in favor of drinking the leftover sauce from her current bowl.

"What's your problem, you're noisy." Lina said uninterested. "Can't you see that I'm eating here? Now buzz off. Shoo." She waved them off disinterested like they were some annoying bug before grabbing the container to pour herself another portion.

Red-faced, the men shook in rage at the small girl's attitude and just as Unohana was about to voice her presence, the first man snapped and lashed out. "You little bitch!!!" he yelled, hitting the kettle Lina was currently holding.

As if in slow motion, Lina watched shocked as the metal container flew out of her grip and onto the floor, splashing out all it's (remaining) content. The rest of the world was an empty void as she watched the meat, vegetable and sauce splatter across the wodden floor, dirtied, soiled, ruined.

A shadow spread over Lina's face as she sat there unmoving, the brute already in motion to deliver another hit, this one aimed at her face.

The sudden spike of reiatsu that was felt and the vicious uppercut he recieved stopped that short as he flied past his two buddies and landed in a heap on the floor.

He and everyone else in the room watched as the redhaired girl got to her feet with a furious aura ablaze around her, walking towards the man while not even acknowledging the two other goons.

"Disturbing a maiden's meal is a crime in itself," she began as she closed in on the man, her voice eerily calm and her eyes overshadowed by her hair. "But ruining food, mine in particular, is an offence that even the heavens cannot forgive!" she declared, her voice rising towards the end. Ironically, she had forgotten she was at that very place right now. Looking up, her eyes were furious with small tears at the end of them. "You're **Dead Meat**!"

"Get her!" the man's companions shouted as they charged at Lina from behind.

As the first one of the two threw a full swing, Lina instinctly ducked and then delivered an elbow into his stomach without even turning around to face the man. It was worth noting that because of the size-difference she could hardly have reached higher if she'd tried. None the less, the guy collapsed forward as Lina was already in motion, grabbing the man by his collar and sash and then used his momentum to send him flying upside down.

As the guy on the floor barely dodged his incoming friend, Lina dogded the strike from the third goon and delivered a roundhouse kick to his chest. As he started to stumble backwards, Lina went into a crouch and swung his feet out from under him with her leg, sending him crashing harshly on his back.

As Lina was still in a crouch, a shadow fell over her from behind as the very first guy she punched was back on his feet and sent a punch in a downwards arc that dented the floor as it hit. He barely had time to register that he'd missed and looked up towards the ceiling just in time to see Lina, her robes rustling as she descended and delivered a rigid stomp on his face with both feet.

He was once again thrown onto his back on the floor as Lina used his face as a spring to jump back and land safely, standing in front of the table she was seated earlier.

Unohana and everyone else in the room blinked as they had just witnessed a girl trash 3 men that were at the very least twice her size.

Something like that wasn't exactly unheard of in Soul Society as plenty of the higher ranking shinigami were petite-looking little women, but this was the 4th division headquarters where most of the people there got harassed by the 11th division members every now and then. That's why it was quite a sight for those present to see the little redhead who was obviously a patient given her white robes toss around the bigger men as if she had done nothing else her whole life.

Skills and reflexes like that came with being a "bandit-killer" after all.

"Damn it, we'll remember this you flat little bitch!!" the man yelled as he was pulled along by his two pals, running away for their dear life.

"What did you call me?!!" Lina snarled and tossed one arm forward, hand open. "Eat this! **Fireball!**"

Nothing happened.

Lina stood there, arm outstretched as the men disappeared down the corridor. Blinking, she slowly pulled her arm back and looked at her hand. That was odd. Why hadn't her magic worked?

Before she could contemplate that further though, an icy chill went down her spine as a hand landed on her shoulder.

"Now listen here Lina," Unohana started with an eerie tone. "Know that I won't hold anything against you for roughhousing those men seeing that the 11th division often cause a general disturbance here. However," she said, her grip on Lina's shoulder tightening at the final word, making her flinch. "Did you _just_ try to use a fire-related spell inside a hospital filled with patients?"

The face was friendly and the words weren't unkind, but the air the woman gave off was quite ominous. Jittering franticly as she looked at her over her shoulder, Lina felt like she wanted to run away and hide. However, since the woman had a firm grip on her, she did the next best thing.

She panicked.

"**KYAAAAAA!!! I'MSORRY-I''MSORRY-I'MSORRY-I'MSORRY-I'MSORRY-I'MSORRYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!!!**"

* * *

Letting the water cascade down her body as she stood in the shower, Lina rubbed the sore lump on her head.

"Owowowow..." she let out weakly.

She realized she may had been going overboard with using a fireball inside a hospital, but after hearing her least favorite insult as her first meal in **eons** was ruined she pretty much lost all view of rationality.

Still, it worried her. Usually she could toss around fireballs like it was the most normal thing in the world for her, but this time she hadn't felt any sign of the telltale magic energy being gathered. Not even a sliver.

Was it because she was dead? Did souls lose such abilities after they'd crossed over, or could it perhaps mean that the magic she was familiar with simply didn't exist any longer.

It was a possibility. In her semi-conscious state she'd been able to tell that an ungodly amount of time had passed as she had been sealed inside that crystal.

Letting her forehead rest against the wall as she leaned forward, Lina decided she would have to ask Unohana about this after she got out of the showers.

She would just remember to **never** do anything that might upset the woman ever again.

Cause that impassive anger she could radiate was way creepy!

LUNA-creepy!

* * *

Preview:

Kyouraku: So, what is your impression of our new face, Unohana-chan?

Unohana: I'm intriguingly amused. She seems to be quite an interesting person.

Ukitake: Do you think she would contribute to our forces?

Unohana: Indeed I do if her potential is as big as we suspect and she continues to recover at this rate. I'm slightly worried though.

Kyouraku: She did seem a little feisty, didn't she.

Ukitake: You don't think she might become a potential enemy, do you?

Unohana: No, it's not that. I'm just concerned if we'll have enough food to go around now that Lina's here.

Kyouraku & Ukitake: Huh??

Lina: Erm, a girl's gotta eat you know. Never mind that though! Hurry up and do the preview for the next chapter!

Byakuya: You're out of time again.

Lina: Who the hell ARE you anyway?!!

* * *

Shinigami's Cup. Golden!

"Nee, nee, who do you think that girl is?" a girl asked excitedly as the 4th division-members gathered.

"I don't know. I've never seen her before." another member replied. The redhaired girl had a more european look than most shinigami he'd seen so he probably would have remembered it if he did.

"Maybe she's new?" another one offered.

"Cool! Do you think she'd might join the 4th division? Cause that just now was awsome!"

"Yeah! It'd be nice to have someone that could keep those 11th division punks in cheek." a freckled girl grinned.

"Yeah, yeah!" they agreed.

"You forget the fact that she might try to never come here willingly again." One of the senior members noted as he pushed up his glasses.

The group sighed and looked across the room where Unohana stood, still with that eerily serene smile on her face as she was busy pulling at the redhaired girls' cheeks. Said redhead was flailing her arms wildly, not daring to try and oppose the woman.

* * *

Disclaimer: Still don't own this stuff. Pity. 


	3. Chapter 3

**Bleached Slayer**

Chapter 3

"Eh?! Your brother went to Hueco Mundo?" Ichigo exclaimed surprised, jerking upright from his position on his bed. Rukia who was currently on his bedroom-floor only gave a silent nod before continuing going through his manga.

"That guy... What the heck did he do there?"

"I'm not sure. It was a classified so I didn't get to know the details, but it appears it was a search-and-retrieval mission. He was aided by Captain Kurotsuchi and Captain Zaraki so it must've been very important."

"THOSE three went as a group?!" Ichigo asked, shocked once again.

Rukia merely nodded, her eyes not looking up from her manga. Since she'd went back to Soul Society she had fallen behind on her titles so she was eager to catch up.

Right now for instance she was truly mesmerized by this "Gear 2" she was reading about.

"Hueco Mundo, huh?" Ichigo said after a while, falling back on his bed. "What in the world could they be interested in finding there? More less bring Back?"

"Don't know. But since Nii-sama went, acompanied by two other captains then you can bet it is something of value for our upcoming battle with Aizen." Rukia said, closing her book and getting to her feet.

"Yeah... I suppose so-WHAT the HELL are you doing?!"

"What does it LOOK like, moron? I'm trying to go to bed." Rukia sniffed. She was currently on her way to climb into Ichigo's closet, one leg already positioned on it's shelf.

"Hell no! Did you forget? My family knows you're here now! There is No way you can sleep in there like you used to! Hey, are you even listening to me?! Get your ass out of there, midget!! Ouf!! Bitch, you did NOT just kick me! Oi!!"

* * *

"Ghaa, what's the fricking hold up?" Lina whined as she tapped her foot.

After having cleaned-up, Lina was presented new robes to wear - black ones that were identical to everyone else's, much to her dislike. Grumbling as she picked at her robes, she had vowed to herself to attain a more colorful outfit - no matter by how little - the first chance she got.

At least the clothes weren't uncomfortable.

Right now though her focus was on something far more important than fashion

Unohana had said that her superiors wanted to meet her now that she was awake, something that put Lina a little on edge. However, since she was in too frail a situation to demand anything, Lina decided to comply peacefully.

Not that she would dare to try and upset Unohana anyway

The trip in itself had been interesting as Unohana had grabbed onto her shoulder and suddenly they were pretty much warping across the rooftops in the direction of a huge castle.

Lina had first thought they were teleporting, but then noticed how she was pulled forward like they were making large leaps at an insane pace.

She didn't get though why Unohana gave her such a puzzled when she inquired about just what kind of technique it was the woman was using.

When they had finally reached their destination, Unohana had been asked to go somewhere alone while she was to wait out here. The guards standing at the end of the hall watched as Lina had eventually started to pace in circles while muttering under her breath.

She assumed that Unohana was reporting whatever she had learned about her to this Captain-Commander of hers. She had tried to coax her into telling what they wanted with her as they walked, but Unohana had been rather tight-lipped about that, revealing only that they meant to cause her no harm, or at least that the chances weren't High for it.

There Had been a moments hesitation though as she had said that so Lina couldn't sit down and wait in peace even if she wanted to.

Lina had been close to start plotting an escape-route, just in case, hadn't it been for the fact that she'd seen how ridiculously HUGE this 'Court of Pure Souls' had truly been as they traveled up to the castle. She could probably always manage to get her hands on a sword she figured, but there was no way she'd make it all the way through such a huge area with enemies upon enemies without her allies OR her magic to back her up. And even if she DID make it out, where was she supposed to go? She was dead after all.

Finally stopping her pacing, Lina's shoulders slumped and she sighed. Looks like her only hope was that these people didn't have some sort of harmful intent for her.

She suddenly squeeked, jumping in surprise as the big doors behind her started to swing open, creaking as they did.

Turning around, she was face to face with Unohana.

"The Captain-Commander wants to see you now." she said, her face looking friendly as ever which Lina decided to interpret as a good sign.

"U-uhn." Lina nodded carefully as she and Unohana walked inside, the doors closing behind them as they did.

She trailed after Unohana down a long, dimly lit corridor, glancing back every now and then. As they made they way past turns and corners, Lina started to frown and decided to voice her opinion.

"Hey, Unohana-san?"

"Yes?" Unohana answered, turning her head just barely so she could look at Lina.

"Aren't we there yet?" Lina voiced, frowning. "We've been walking for several minutes already. Why did I have to wait so far away from wherever this commander is?"

Choosing to not answer the second question, Unohana simply looked forward, saying, "Don't worry. We'll be there in a minute."

Slightly miffed, Lina folded her arms behind her back, muttering under her breath.

Eventually they came to a halt infront of a new gate. Unohana knocked on the gate gently and it started to open, daylight pouring in from outside.

Because of having been in a dark hall for a while, Lina was blinded by the transition and stumbled her way through the gate. Rubbing her eyes, her sight finally adjusted... only to found herself out in a courtyard surrounded by tall, non-descriptive buildings.

Blinking, Lina turned towards Unohana.

"Hey, what gives? This isn't - SHE'S GONE?!" she jerked, surprised that Unohana was nowhere to be found. The gate behind her suddenly went shut with a bang, having her jump in surprise a second time.

As she looked at the closed gate, she sweatdropped.

"Oi, oi, what the hecks going on? If I didn't know any better, I'd say this would be the perfect set-up for an..."

"Attack!!"

"Exactly, an ambush." she nodded to herself before blinking. 'Waait a minute.'

Turning around, Lina saw several shinigami come running out from between the buildings, all with their sword at the ready, charging at... her.

"Eh?" she blinked. "EEEEHHH??!!"

As the first shinigami made it up to her, he swung his sword in a downwards-swing. Finally snapping out of her stupor, Lina leaped to the side making her way past the man.

"What the hell?!!" she screamed while she was dodging back and forth as several other shinigami leaped at her with their swords. "What the hell did I do to get THIS response?!!"

The shinigami, probably two dozen in total, all yelled as they started to flock around her.

Dodging their attacks franticly, Lina looked around until she spotted an escape-route. Dashing forward through an opening in the mob, Lina started to make a beeline towards one of the alleyways.

As she ran however, one large and burly shinigami ran into her percieved path, standing there in an attempt to block her off.

"Give it up girly." the man grinned as he held his ground. "You don't even have a weapon so you might as well just surren-dAHH!!"

The man suddenly squeeked out the last words in a high-pitched voice as his eyes bulged out. As he had stood there Lina hadn't deviated from her path in the least and had suddenly dived forward, sliding between the large man's legs.

As she picked herself up, she dashed into the alley, not even looking back as the large man crumbled to the ground while clutching his family-jewels.

The rest of the shinigami simply stood there and looked after her, blinking in surprise as it sunk in what had just happened.

"What the hell are you spacing out for?!! After her!!" one finally yelled, shocking the others out of their stupor.

* * *

"GET HER! DON'T LET HER GET AWAY!!" the shinigami screamed as they ran through the alleys.

"What the hell have I done you people?!!" Lina screamed as she ran up ahead.

Making a sharp turn around a corner, Lina tried to make sense of her situation as she ran.

'Ok. Usually I have at least a vague idea why people are pissed at me, but this time I can't think of anything! Wait. Are these guys pals of the losers from the dining hall? But I didn't see any of them back there.' she thought, casting a brief look over her shoulder.

Yup, they were still on her trail.

'Come to think of it, none of these guys look as "Bandit-like" as the bozos from before so I kinda doubt it.' she concluded as the ones following her now did indeed look more like what she labeled as "Standard-Shinigami", or most of them anyway.

There were a few that were bigger and more rugged in appearance than the rest, but they were still a far cry from those she pounded earlier.

Lina squeeked in surprise as a bolt of energy suddenly sailed over her head and exploded into the wall beside her. Freaked out by the fact that these shinigami could obviously use some kind of spells as well, she upped her pace.

"What was that??!! It looked and acted like a small fireball, but it was blue?!! GYAAAH!! IF I ONLY HAD MY MAGIC!!" Lina yelled frustrated, pulling at her hair. "Unohana, where the hell did you go?!!"

Looking up at the non-descriptive buildings she was trapped between, she also added. "And why the hell aren't there any wndows here even CLOSE to groundlevel, dammit?! I want out of here!"

Making her way into a larger area between the buildings, Lina skidded to a halt as she looked around.

"Crap!! I'm surrounded!!"

Counting the one she just came from there were three paths out. However, Lina could hear her pursuers' roars coming from all of them as they had appearantly split up and cornered her in like a rat.

"Exit?! Isn't there an exit somewhere?!" she rambled panicked as she looked around wildly

Noticing something that was more of a slip of space between buildings than an actual path, Lina dived inside just seconds before the shinigami entered the area behind her.

"What the? Where did she go?!"

"I dunno! She didn't go past our group."

"Well she certantly didn't sneak past US!"

"Oi, are you calling us stupid?!"

"No, I'm calling you useless!"

"THERE! She must've gone THAT way! It's the only other exit!"

"Alright, we got her now! Men, follow her!"

This "route" was a lot narrower than the previous ones so the shinigami could only follow by walking sideways one-by-one to get through. Lina, who thanks to her petite stature obviously had it far easier than the men, used this to gain some distance in between them.

"Hustle, hustle, hustle." she breathed as she shimmied her way through. She was almost all the way now.

Finally she popped out from the between the buildings, her expression that of glee as she saw how far ahead she was of her pursuers.

Panic hit her however as she looked ahead and took in her surroundings, realizing with dread why her followers hadn't tried to run AROUND to cut her off.

She had entered another large area, this one the biggest one yet as it was roughly the size of a large rugbyfield. However, insanely high walls surrounded her on all sides as there were no other paths out, not even a small one like the one she just exited.

In other words, she was effectively trapped.

"A Deadend?!! NOOO!! What am I supposed to do NOW?!!" she wailed.

She could hear the bastards behind her rejoice as they eeled their way through the path, obviously having heard her cry of despair.

"Muooh, what have I done to deserve this?!" Lina sobbed loudly, large streams of tears spraying from her eyes as she ran deeper into the area. "Isn't this supposed to be heaven?! Why am I treated like this?! Is my beauty such a sin?!" she cried toward the sky.

"Well sure I blew up a few villages in my day, but that doesn't mean I deserve THIS, does it?!"

Lina's despair suddely turned into a sliver of hope as she noticed that there was a sword embedded into the ground at the far end of the field.

"Huh? Yosha! With that I should have at least a fighting chance!" she exclaimed, her tears stopping. "Now I only need to ..."

Her words trailed off as she managed to get a better look at it's details.

'No Way!!!' she thought. 'It CAN'T be!!'

Ignoring the cries behind her as the men had started to exit from between the buildings, Lina quickened her pace, her eyes glued to the object ahead of her.

Unable to break properly, Lina skidded past the sword, having to backtrack a bit before she yanked it up from the ground.

Lina's eyes were wide as she studied the sword closely, her small hands almost shaking as she held it up in front of her.

"I don't believe it..." she whispered. "I don't belive it... But it IS."

So enraptured was she that she almost missed the fact that the first three of her followers were about to finally catch up and were now dashing forward with their swords poised to strike.

"You're done for!" one of them yelled as he leaped into the air ahead of the others and came down at Lina with his sword.

His confident expression changed into a look of surprise though as a large clang sounded and his momentum came to a rigid halt.

Stalling his blade was the one Lina held, her sword still in it's scabbard as she held it forward with both arms in a sideways block. What puzzled the man was the abrupt stop his charge had come to as while even the robes of the girl had fluttered from the shock of the impact. Her body and stance however hadn't given an inch.

As he stood there frozen, the man's two companions leaped up from either side of him, both swinging their blades at the girl.

Knocking the first man and his blade back a little, Lina swung to her right as she blocked the second attacker's sword in the same fashion. Not stalling her movements however, the hand she held on the sword's hilt drew the blade from it's scabbard while it still was blocking and swung the now free blade around, knocking back the third man.

Continuing in a smooth motion, the first and second attacker didn't have time to react as she kept rotating, knocking the first man down by slamming the hilt into the side of his head as she at the same time kicked backwards, hitting the second man in the stomach.

As the three men flew backwards, Lina grinded into a halt and took on a ready stance as she completed her 360 degrees spin, dust spreading away from her across the ground.

With the sword held at the ready in her right hand and the scabbard in the left with it's lenght held between her arm and body, Lina looked up with a confident air and a closed smirk.

The other shinigami, having made it into the area and were now running towards her, skidded to a halt in the middle of the field.

They appearantly decideced to be cautious, witnessing how fast and effective the small girl had blocked three attackers at once and even DOWNED two of them.

Not to mention that the confident battle-aura the girl was suddenly emitting made it hard for a few of them not to take a step back subconsciously.

"Give it up, girl! You're surrounded!" one tougher-looking shinigami called, gesturing at Lina with his sword as the third attacker from berfore (who was simply knocked back) got to his feet and joined the group.

"You seem to have some skills and even a little strenght as well, but you don't stand a chance in this situation! Give it up and accept your fate!"

Many of the shinigami wore triumphant sneers as they watched the girl look down, her hair covering her eyes.

The cocky smile Lina suddenly flashed back and the rush of reiatsu flowing from her was the last thing they expected.

"Sorry..." she said in a voice that obviously felt no real regret. "But as long as I have this blade... I don't really think I'm gonna lose!" she declared, pointing with her own blade in turn before oddly enough putting it back into the hilt making the shinigami blink.

"Che! Fool. Be that way then. Men, attack!!" the man yelled. The shinigami took a few seconds to react but then charged forward with a collective roar as they started to cover the final distance between them and the girl.

Said girl was for some reason fickling with the sword's hilt instead of bracing herself for the upcoming wave. Her tounge stuck out the side of her mouth as her face was in a look of awkward concentration.

'Dammit, how did you DO this thing?!' she thought a little dismayed. 'I never had to disconnect it myself so I never learned ho - Ah, there we go!' she smiled as a click sounded from the sword.

Discarding the scabbard to the ground, Lina looked up as the men charged while laughing as they registered that she was now holding nothing but a bladeless hilt.

"What the!"

"Hahahaha! Have you gone bonkers, girl?!"

"What do you intend to do with a bladeless sword?!"

"Are you giving up? We won't show any mercy you know!" they cackled.

As they decended on her, Lina grabbed the sword-hilt with both hands and yelled.

"I'LL SHOW YOU WHAT I INTEND TO DO!" she cried confident. "**LIGHT COME FORTH!!!**"

As something started to shine, Lina did one powerful swing while screaming a battle cry.

In that moment, the entire alley became enveloped in light and there was a lot of screaming.

* * *

As the dust settled after what could only be described as a small explosion, the shinigami could be seen lying spread across the field. The walls around them had cracks spreading across them as well as a few minor craters here and there.

Rolling to their feet, the ones who weren't knocked out from the impact (and were lucky enough not to crash into any walls on their airtrip) looked back shocked as the girl stood there, holding what appeared to be a released zanpaktou that looked like a glowing sword of light.

The girl herself stood there confidently at ground-zero, her stance in a defiant position as the air seemed to pulsate around her.

Gaping at her, the remaining shinigami attempted to gather their wits.

"..."

"What's with that zanpaktou?"

"She has a kidoh-blade?!"

"Her reiatsu has shot up too!"

"Who cares?! Just get her!!"

Most of the men charged forward only to be easily parried and blown back by the overwhelming power of the girl's glowing blade.

Easily avoiding their frantic attacks, Lina jumped back and released another shockwave that sent the men flying.

As they crashed harsly here and there, Lina noticed that 3 men who hadn't charged in the second wave stood there, a cocky air about them as they looked at her from across the field.

"What's with you guys?" she called as she raised herself to her full height, the sword of light humming in her grip. "Decided to do the smart thing and give up?"

"Hmph, aren't you full of yourself all of a sudden." the first man humphed. "Don't think that just because you possess shikai you'll be able to defeat us."

"Shikai?" Lina mumbled.

"Unlike these other weaklings, WE'RE seated officers!" the second called, arrogantly gesturing around him with his arms as he reffered to the "weaklings".

"So by saying "other" you're admitting that YOU'RE weaklings as well?" Lina smirked, making fun of the man's poor phrasing.

The man jerked then growled at her in rage. Before he could say anything however, Lina went on.

"And? What difference does it make that you're higher ranked? In case you haven't noticed, you don't exactly have any ranks to command around anymore." Lina smirked. gesturing at the downed shinigami around them.

"Fu fu fu! Fool! It's not the manpower we command that is the issue." the first man laughed.

"Reeeally now? Then what is?"

"Aah? Are you daft?" the second man laughed.

"It should be obvious." the third man spoke up as they all pulled out their swords. "The reason that we're ranked higher is because we're more Powerful!!"

"!!" Lina jerked in shock as the three men's swords started to shine.

"No way! They got magic swords as well?!"

Lina looked on as the three men seemed to gather their power until they raised their blades up in front of them.

"Spark, God of Lightning-rod!" the first man roared as his blade suddenly grew thinner and longer and starte to crackle with electricity around it. Alarmed, Lina assumed a ready-stance.

"Slaughter! Ox-king" the second man went as his blade became a ball-in-chain with the ball looking like an ox-head as it had two horns. He started swinging it around over his head by the chain as he sneered at Lina.

A single drop of sweat made it's way down Lina's cheek as she could tell that their blades had just come a lot more powerful. Her stance did not waver however.

"Prance! Ballerina!!"

And then everyone went silent as the third man's blade became a swan-head ornament with a cross-guard that looked like a tutu.

A pink tutu.

A gust of wind blew between them as they stood there in silence, staring at the third man.

"..."

"..."

"..."

"-snort- Manly blade you have there." Lina snickered.

"Sh-Shut-up!" he roared before smirking. "Hmph! Obviously you're too naive and in-experienced as a warrior to be able to comprehend the sheer brilliance of this blade. I shall warn you, do not underestimate it's power!!" he boasted, striking a stance with his blade.

He blinked though as Lina casually pointed to the side of him, a humorous look on her face. Confused, the man turned his head to look at it's two companions.

"YOU guys don't laugh either!!!" he roared in anger as the other two men had a tough time keeping their composure, hunched over and cheeks blown as they desperatly tried not to laugh.

"W-well whatever." the first man finally said as he reassume his full height, still snickering. "Do you realize now that what you have there is nothing special? Or do you still intend to oppose us?"

The men now smirked arrogantly at Lina.

Lina replied in turn by pulling down an eyelid and blowing a raspberry.

The men shook in rage before charging at the impudent girl and the field was soon a battleground fraught with explosions.

* * *

As the smoke started to settle after the last explosion, the only one standing was a certain Lina Inverse. Winded, but barely with a scratch on her.

The fight had only taken a few minutes as while they may have had powerful blades, their swordform and agility paled before Lina's own.

She admitted to herself though that out of the three the swan-headed ballerina-sword had by far been the biggest challenge.

"Heh. It's always weird stuff like that which turns out to be the case. I'm starting to be able to tell when to expect it." she breathed, trying to steady her breathing.

Her face gaining a serious expression, she held her blade in front of her for a few moments, taking the time to study it once again.

She had a billion questions concerning the blade she held, but right now it could wait.

Wiping the sweat off her forehead with her arm, Lina's breath evened out before she took in big gulp of air.

"Hah! I may not have my magic, but don't you underestimate my skills as a swordwoman! Add this sword into the equation and you weaklings don't stand a CHANCE!" Lina declared, raising the Sword of Light as she stood there over her downed opponents.

"Don't get so arrogant just yet, girl!" someone suddenly said.

Lina looked up in surprise to see one lone shinigami still standing and sweatdropped at what she saw. The guy was bigger than any of the others by far and had his uniform loosened so half his upperbody showed, but that wasn't what caught her eye.

What was truly weird was how this seemingly macho man had his hair was down into two braids in front, creating an odd overall look with the rest of his appearance.

The man went on. "Foolish child! This is as far as you go!"

"Oh? There's still one of you left? Never mind that, what's with the hair?" Lina pointed, not recalling having seen this oaf earlier among the others (and she was pretty sure she WOULD have noticed).

"I figured the men would be able to round up one lone enemy so I hung back, but I see the task was too tall for them to handle."

"Oi, oi. Are you listening?" she sweatdropped.

"However, it all ends here. I, the Third seat of the 8th division: Tatsuhusa Enjyouji shall strike you down!" the man declared as he pulled his blade.

"Now eat this! Hoah!! SHA! SHA! SHA! SHA! SHA! SHA! SHA! SHA! SHA! SHA! SHA! SHA! SHA! SHA! SHA! SHA! SHA!" he started yelling as he swinged his sword around in front of him like a loon. The blade may have moved at an impressive pace, but since he just stood there not approaching, the display simply looked ridiculous.

"..."

"SHA! SHA! SHA! SHA! SHA! SHA! SHA! SHA! What's the matter girl?! Scared?! You Should be! This unbeatable technique of mine is the pride of all of Soul Society as it have never lost to Anyone!! THE HOUZANKE--"

"Haa-yaa!!" Lina yelled as she let of another charged blast from the Sword of Light, cutting off the man's monolog.

He was caught in the blast completely and flew across the entire lenght of the alley like a comet until he crashed into the wall.

As the smoke and dust settled, the man could be seen imbedded into the wall. He hang there for a few seconds until he dropped forward and hit the ground with a thud, face down.

He didn't move after that.

"Oh-key, that was easy."Lina sweatdropped. Since the oaf had simply been standing there in place swinging his sword like an idiot, Lina had merly stood out of his reach, building up energy in the sword of light before she released it straight at him.

She hadn't expected him to go down so perfectly though.

Snapping out of her stupor, Lina started to frown.

She began stalking towards one of the downed shinigami, determined to smack him awake and find out just what the heck was going on. Why did they attack her? Where did Unohana go? And why in the world was THE Sword of Light here when the last time she'd seen it, it had been taken away by a holy being from another dimension?! (Not that she was complaining it was here, mind you.)

However, just before she could grab hold of the unconcious man, a presence filled the air making it difficult for Lina to breathe for a second.

It dissappeared as quickly as it came though and she turned around to find Unohana standing in the middle of the alley, smiling that serene smile of hers.

Lina's expression however was anything but.

"Unohana!!" she yelled. "What the hell was this about?!! Why did you try to -"

"My, my, please calm down Miss Lina. There's a perfectly good reason for this." Unohana cut in, still standing there as if nothing was wrong.

"Are you kidding me?!" Lina screamed indignant as she started to angrily stomp her way towards Unohana, her motions exaggerated to a comical degree.

"The hell do you think you are, putting me through this?! What are you up to?! Why did you try to have me killed?!! Answer me, Nowh -- ??!!!" she yelled as she waved her sword in the air, suddenly shocked to see it vanish from her hand.

Looking behind her she saw a man with long white hair who was wearing the same captain-jacket as Unohana.

"Now, now." the newcomer said calmly as he placed the deactivated hilt of Lina's sword back onto it's scabbard. "Let's calm down before we do anything hasty."

Lina booggled at the man. He had managed to show up and disarm her in the blink of an eye without her noticing him approaching at all. More so, this man had the same powerful presence as Unohana gave off.

Gulping, Lina turned to look at Unohana, still watching the newcomer out the corner of her eye.

Not that she could do anything if they tried to attack her she figured. She was completely outclassed by both these two individuals and she knew it.

A few seconds passed by as she attempted to calm herself.

"Reason you say?" Lina finally let out hesitatingly.

"Yes." Unohana nodded. "We needed to see what you were capable of in battle and this was the most effecient way to do so. I'm sorry it had to happen so suddenly though." she added, looking somewhat apologetic.

"What I was capable of?" Lina muttered, repeating the woman. "Th-THEN... This whole thing was a TEST?!! I almost got KILLED because you were CURIOUS?!!" she growled, her ire returning.

"We were watching the entire thing from the rooftops." the whitehaired man cut in. "Were you - any of you - in any serious danger of being killed we would've moved in to protect you at the last instant."

"Oh Whoopey-Doo, that makes me feel All relieved!" Lina droned sarcasticly. "Not only that, but you just stood and watched while I ran around like a headless chicken because I didn't have a weapon?! Was THAT part of the test or was it just for your sick entertainment?!!" she yelled pointingly, spinning around to glare at the man.

As she stood there growling at him she noticed that he at least had the decency to look apologetic, almost embarrassed, as did Unohana.

"Then?" Lina bit out, still glaring at the man. "Why would you fine gentlefolks need to "test" me in the first place?" she growled wih an annoyed air.

"To see if you would have any value to us in the upcoming war." a new voice stated.

Lina whirled around to find an old, scarred man with a cane and a long white beard standing there. Lina noted that this man wore the white capain-jacket as well.

"W-what war?" Lina asked carefully, sweat rolling down her cheek. He may have looked like an old fossil, but this old fart radiated power.

The old man seemed to study her for a few moments before he turned around and started to walk off.

"Follow me."

As the old man simply vanished before her eyes, the whitehaired man gently grabbed onto Lina's shoulder, and before she could react she felt herself do that warping-thing again.

Unohana hang back for a few seconds, requesting into an hell-butterfly for someone to come pick up the downed shinigami before she followed as well.

END CHAPTER 3

* * *

PREVIEW:

Lina: Hmph, I can't believe the nerve of these people. First they attack me, then they ask me to join them. How rude is That?

Unohana: Ara, are you still upset?

Lina: Of course! How could I NOT be?

Ukitake: You know, some of our strongest allies went through something similar, only much worse, and even They weren't this mad about it afterwards.

Lina: Hah! As if I'd believe that! I'd like to see the face of the spineless pushover who would just forgive and forget after something like This!

Ichigo: ... You know, things were a bit more complicated than that...

* * *

SHINIGAMI'S CUP. GOLDEN!

"GET HER! DON'T LET HER GET AWAY!!".

"What the hell have I done you people?!!"

"Things seems to get pretty wild down there." Ukitake said as he, Unohana and Yamamoto stood on the rooftops, looking down on the chaos below.

"Hmm, this is most unsatisfying." Yamamoto grumbled, looking down at the panicked redhead. "To think that she's driven on the run by this level of opponents. Most unsatisfying indeed."

"Lina-san did claim she was a sorceress so perhaps her lack of knowledge of kidou is the key-factor here." Unohana offered, trying to defend Lina as she had belief in the girl's potential.

"Oh, I see."

"Nevertheless, she should at least have been able to fight back with her zanpaktou, but the girl haven't even tried using it."

"Uh, sir?" Ukitake sweatdropped.

"Commander, you're still holding it."

"Hn?"

Yamamoto raised an eyebrow at the two as he stood there, holding Lina's sword in his hand.

"Did you forget to toss it down, per chance?"

"Looks like he did."

* * *

Disclaimer: Lina Inverse lets no one own her. Any mentions of a certain Luna Inverse will simply be ignored or screamed at in panic. 


	4. Chapter 4

**Bleached Slayer**

Chapter 4

Moans and groans of pain could be heard throughout the 4th Division HQ as several beaten and bruised shinigami were wheeled in. Members of said division scurried back and forth like ants doing what they did best, patching up the invalids.

"Sheesh, what in the world happened to these guys?" a 4th division-girl stated as she held up a patient's boneless arm like it was spaghetti. "This doesn't look like the work of hollows. Did they have a training-exercise with the 11th division or something?"

Another medic shook his head in the negative. "No, as far as I've heard they were testing this one new recruit."

A third medic blinked up from where he was sewing stings to a mans head. "Wait, you're saying they were all beat up by ONE person? And a Newcomer at that??"

"Ooh, I know!" a girl exclaimed from across the room before leaning over one of the patients who were halfway conscious. The other 4th division members looked on as she smacked the man's cheek in order to get his attention in his hazy state. "Say, was the person who did this to you a short, redhaired girl?" she asked.

The man's eyes, which until now had been completely out of focus, froze as if the man was a deer caught in headlights. Seconds later he started to scream and moan in panic, clutching a decapitated swanhead-ornament between his arms as he lay there.

"Aah! Aah! Aah! Aah!"

"Haha, I knew it" the girl looked up satisfied, paying the catatonic man no heed. She casually adminstered some sedatives before she sauntered over to the other members, a smile spread across her face. "It's definetly That girl."

"That girl? Ah, Her!"

"No way! She trashed everyone here by herself?"

"Whoa, incredible."

"Who are we talking about again?"

"You know. Her! The one we saw in the dining hall earlier."

"Oh please, that little thing? Besides, isn't she still a patient?"

"No, I saw her leaving earlier with Captain Unohana."

"Ghaaa, she would've made such a kickass-member to have around." a girl exclaimed while running her fingers through her hair in minor frustration. The room only got noisier and noisier as more and more of the 4th division members joined in on the chatter.

"P-please quiet down and see to the patients!" a uncertain voice though one of authority cut through, startling the room. "Save the talk for later. Right now we have work to do here."

"A-ah, yes. Sorry."

"Right away vice-captain Isane." the group chorused before going back to their tasks. Said vice-captain sighed worriedly as she went back to treating her own patient.

At the back of the room, Hanatarou wondered to himself just who everyone was talking about.

* * *

"You want me to become a Shinigami??" Lina yelled surprised, a look of confusion and utter disbelief on her face.

The room they were in now was a spacious room which gave Lina the impression of a meeting hall reserved for officers. Punctuating that impression was the old bearded man standing in front of her looking in all ways like an old general. Lina stood with Unohana and the white-haired man (Ukitake he had introduced himself as) on either side of her, the two also facing the old man.

At the old man's arched eyebrow Lina decided to voice her confusion.

"I mean, is that even possible?? Don't you have to be some holy creature or something? Can a human, you know, just become one?"

The old man gave Lina a long look before he answered. "The requirements for a human-soul to become a shinigami is simply to have awakened their reiatsu."

"Reiatsu?"

"Yes, your spirit-power." he said, explaining. "Some souls have the potential to harness their own energy and make it grow, granting them power and abilities beyond that of normal souls."

"Ah, like mana, ki, chi, chakra and whatnot, right?"

"I believe so, yes, and you've already demonstrated that you pass the requirements."

"I have? How??" Lina pointed to herself in bewilderment.

"You may not have noticed because you're not accustomed to it yet, but those with reiatsu give off an aura that can be sensed by most people in the near vicinity. It's size and density usually reflects the owners powerlevel, though the person's control is an issue as well."

"Another thing is that normal souls needs nothing but water to survive." Ukitake shot in, leaning forward into Lina's view as he was recalling what Unohana reported earlier. "The fact that you feel hunger and need to eat is another evidence of possessing reiatsu."

"Eh?! Are you saying that people normally don't eat in the afterlife?! The Horror!! How could anyone call this heaven??" Lina all but shouted, this revelation obviously not sitting right with her.

"Um, miss Inverse?" Ukitake tried, sweatdropping as the girl was hunched over clutching her skull while rambling, an air of dread and sheer horror surrounding her.

"The third and ultimate evidence is that you already possess an zanpaktou." Unohana said.

"Zanpaktou?" Lina let out, looking up. "If I recall, that's what the ones earlier used as a term for magical swords."

"Not magical exactly..." Ukitake began. "To be precise, a zanpaktou is the physical manifestation of a soul's power as a shinigami. It is a part of their very essence."

"Part of their very essence? But I don't have anything like..."

"What do you call this then?" Yamamoto cut her off, holding up the sheeted Sword of Light.

"Ahh, but that's different!!" Lina exclaimed. "That's a magical sword from my era! It belonged to my... It belonged to a friend of mine." Lina said, her voice trailing off and her gaze trailing down at the last part. "Besides!" she suddenly began, trying to shrug off the somber mood she was falling into. "Where did you get that from anyway?! The last time I saw it, it was taken away to another world by a holy being. How did it end up HERE??"

"Hmm, is that so?" Yamamoto said intrigued. "So you weren't aware that this blade was sealed in the same crystal you were?"

"I - W...what?" Lina breathed, her eyes wide.

"Never the less, the examinations we've perfomed on this sword clearly states that this is your zanpaktou." Yamamoto declared as he threw the blade to Lina who caught it clumsily. "It has your spirit-signature so by all intends and purposes; that sword is a part of your very soul." he said, pointing at Lina with his cane.

Clutching the sword to her body with both arms, Lina felt herself go numb. The Sword of Light was now a manifestation of her soul? As she tried to digest this, it took all her willpower not to collapse to her knees.

A hand on her shoulder shocked her out of her stupor and she looked up to see Unohana smiling reassuringly at her. Smiling weakly in return, Lina blinked out the water that had gathered in her eyes and straightened her posture as she again looked forward at Yamamoto. The old man gave Lina a scrutinizing look before he gathered his breath, firing up some practiced speech no doubt.

"We - the Shinigami - have as a purpose to serve and protect the souls of humans. We guide them into the afterlife when they can't find their way as well as protect them from harm"

"From harm?" Lina blinked. The other stuff was a no-brainer, but this was news to her. "You're saying there something that poses as a threat to them?" Lina inquired, growing a serious expression.

The old man, apparently satisfied with her change in gears, nodded. "Indeed. Souls that sometimes die filled with a strong sense of grief, anger or despair do not manage to pass on into the afterlife by their own power. When they are not guided in time by a Shinigami they eventually are overcome by their dark emotions and turn into a grotesque monster that feeds on other souls."

"In short, they turn into ghouls and wraiths." Lina stated, her hand on her jaw as she started to get the picture.

"Indeed." Yamamoto nodded, stroking his beard. "We however reffer to them as "Hollows"."

"Hollows?"

"A person's soul has a chain manifested on their chests." Unohana began, turning her face towards Lina. "It represents their connection to their corporal bodies or rather their broken connection as it severs when they die. If that chain corrodes all the way it leaves a hole in that soul and they lose their human heart, thus transforming into a hollow."

"I see." Lina nodded. The details may be a little bit different, but the workings were similar to what they had been in her time. She turned back to face the old man as he resumed talking.

"As we protect innocent souls from hollows, it is also our duty to vanquish these beast, purifying them and help them move on as well."

Lina nodded, feeling she started to see the picture here.

"Well, that's the small stuff. This isn't really what's important right now." Yamamoto suddenly stated in a dismissive tone. He was rewarded with a heavy thud sounding through the room.

Looking down, Lina could be seen sprawled flat on the ground, her arms stretched ahead and one leg twitching in the air behind her. Getting her arms under her, Lina pulled her head up revealing an imprint of her face in the floor. "The heck?! So all that stuff just now wasn't important?!" she growled in disbelief.

As Ukitake and Unohana jerked a little at the voice Lina used at the commander, the old man himself looked down at her with an unreadable look on his face.

"... It's not that it isn't important... It's just that we have a bigger concern right now."

Getting to her feet angrily, Lina arched an eyebrow. "Oh yeah? Such as?"

"A traitor of our own kind who intends to disrupt the very balance of this world." he replied gravely.

At that Lina looked serious again, nodding as she silently urged the man to continue.

"A while ago a man named Aizen, one our very own captains, turned on Soul Society, declaring war on all that we hold sacred. His self-proclaimed objective is to stand above all creation as God himself."

"God?" Lina snorted. "Oi, oi, are you kidding me? I've met plenty of villians in my day who aimed to become king and the like, but god?" Lina shrugged with her arms out while shaking her head in a condescending manner. "It's all so childish really."

"Miss Inverse, I assure you that the threath Aizen poses is indeed very real." Yamamoto said, tapping the floor with his cane for emphasis.

"Hm. Then how does he intend to do so?"

"That's something we're not quite clear on yet, unfortunatly."

"Ghak!" Lina squawked, almost loosing her equilibrium yet again. Reigning herself in, she huffed. "THEN WHA-" she began angrily, but Yamamoto cut her off.

"What we DO know is that he has aquired an powerful and dangerous means towards his ambition; the Hyougyoku!"

"The "Crumbling Treasure"? What the heck is that?"

"It's an acursed item that has the ability to grant hollows the power of shinigami, raising their power and the threat they pose several times over!"

Lina's eyebrows shot up. "Then, with an army of those..." she trailed off.

"Yes. It will be a few months before the Hyougyoku is usable, but when it awakens Aizen will likely storm the very gates of heaven itself." Yamamoto nodded gravely. "So we must stop him at all cost."

Lina crossed her arms and assumed a thinking-pose.

"Hmm, I see. But tell me, what is my part in this?" she eventually said, placing her free hand on her hip.

Looking on as Lina finished digesting the information, Yamamoto decided to spill the details.

"Together with Aizen two other captains defected as well, meaning we've lost a total of three captains in one fell swoop, something that have left our 13 divisions in a disarray. We need to raise the power of our forces before the upcoming war, but we also need to restore the balance and the chain-of-command of the divisions themselves or it will all go to waste."

Lina nodded. "I see... I See. So THAT's why you needed to "test" me. You want me to become one of your captains, huh? I'm honored." Lina said as she started to grin with childish glee.

"That was the intention, but looking at your performance earlier I'd say it's impossible." Yamamoto stated flately while making a dismissive gesture with one hand.

"Ghak!" Another thud sounded as Lina created another imprint into the floor. "WHAT THE HELL?! Where were you looking earlier old man?! I kicked ass!!" she growled as she pulled her face up.

"Of mostly lower-level shinigami." Yamamoto replied bluntly. "Look at the two standing beside you. Do you honestly feel you can even remotely meassure up to their powerlevels?"

Looking up at Unohana and Ukitake from her position on the floor, Lina's face got uneasy and she slowly shook her head negative as she lowered her gaze.

"The title of Captain isn't just for show. Only the strongest of shinigami can become one as there is a large gap in power between them and even those just one rank lower. While we had some expectations of you, your performance clearly showed that asking you to fill a captain-postion is simply absurd! ..Or at least as you are now."

"As I am now?" Lina questioned, looking up in surprise.

It was Unohana the leaned forward to answer. "Right now you are in an severly weakened condition as a result of your forced escape from your imprisonment. Our examination of your soul and zanpaktou, as well as the reports of those that freed you indicate that you should be quite powerful if only you'd regain your reserves."

"At the very least enough to become a seated officer." Ukitake added.

Blinking up at the two, Lina once again looked at Yamamoto as he cleared his troath.

"Yes, that is why we will offer you a proposition, Miss Inverse. From here on out you will focus on recovering and raise your own power as effectively as you can. Since time is of the essence we will put you through a crash-course in order to groom you into a seated officer in the very least. In a month from now on, if your abilities are still unsatisfactory we will instead send you to the shinigami-academy to undergo basic education and training from square one."

At the idea of having to go through school, Lina shuddered. No thanks. She did Not need the boring classes and teenage-drama going on in those installaltions.

Crossing her legs as she sat there, Lina looked away from him in a huff. "Hmph. Who says I'll even agree to become a shinigami in the first place? What's in it for me anyways?"

"Miss Inverse!"

"Lina-san." Ukitake and Unohana exclaimed looking down at the redhead in shock. Said girl was crossing her arms, her sword on her lap, looking like she was almost pouting.

Yamamoto simply stood silent. Noticing his gaze on her, Lina's head swung back.

"Here you come out of nowhere, putting me through rather Rude treatment I might add, and expect me to fight for you in some war?! What's in it for me? Who's to say I wouldn't rather just spend my time as a normal soul in the afterlife?" she bit out, looking mighty displeased at how she had been ambushed earlier then put down by this old fart. "I mean, there's gotta be other options in life for a dead person, right?"

As the redhead glared up at him, Yamamoto silently gazed back. The other two captains nervously glanced back and forth between the two at loss for words.

Finally, Yamamoto broke the staring-contest and closed his eyes, assuming his normal look.

"As a shinigami," he began, appearantly deciding to humor the girl. "You will gain privileges above those of common souls in the afterlife. Not only that, but you will also recieve housing, free meals and payment for your services."

Eyebrow arching at the "payment" part (as well as the mention of "free meals"), Lina voiced her question. "What kind of "privileges"?" she said, slightly distrusting.

"Either if you pass the one-month trial or not, you'll recieve training in mastering your reiatsu and abilities. When you are declared an official shinigami, you will eventually be allowed to traverse to the world of the living for varied amounts of time in order to perform missions."

Lina twitched. Those things sounded promising as well. How would the human-world look after all this time, she wondered. And what new brands of food might exist.

She had to forcibly reign herself in from letting her eyes glaze over and drool openly at that last thought.

Seeing that the girl was starting to give in, Yamamoto went for the kill. "It may be worth to point out that shinigami-training includes being taught how to use kidou - our brand of magic - which according to what Unohana reported is something I believe you would be interested in. Of course, if you'd like to take some time thinking this over..."

The man had to fight a smirk as the girl sprung to her feet.

"So there DOES exist a new brand of magic?!" Lina exclaimed. At the man's amused nod she took a firm stance, pointing at the commander. "Old man, you can consider me enlisted!" Lina stated with a smirk.

Ukitake smiled down relieved at the girl while Unohana had to hold back a giggle, amused at the smaller girl's rapid change in mood.

"Very well." Yamamoto nodded, satisfied. "Your shinigami-training will begin the first thing tomorrow. You claimed to have been a sorcerer while living, correct? As you appear to possess decent swordskills, not to mention a powerful zanpaktou, I assume you'd prefer to focus on learning the arts of kidou as quick as possible." he said.

At Lina's firm nod, Yamamoto started stroking his beard.

"Hmm, we have a few candidates for who can help you master those arts. We'll decide on one come tomorrow. As for your supervisor during your training-period..." he trailed off, looking toward Lina's right.

Following the old man's look, Lina found herself looking up at Ukitake who, after a few seconds, jerked in surprise before pointing to himself. "M-ME?! S-sir, when was THIS decided??"

Ukitake looked at the other two captains nervously, not liking the conspiratory air that suddenly surrounded them while Lina simply blinked.

"My, at one of our recent captains-meetings of course." Yamamoto said in a tone sounding too innocent to actually be innocent.

"It was unanimously decided that you and your division would be best suited to oversee and house Lina during her training, especially seeing you were the one who instigated this whole thing in the first place." Unohana said with a smile, laughing softly into her sleve.

Lina started to frown, not liking the idea of being passed around like some pet-project.

"Bu-but I never heard of this at all!" Ukitake persisted.

"Ara. Come to think of it, it may have been during one of those meetings you called in sick." Unohana said, a finger on her cheek as she looked up in a thoughtful manner.

"Yes, that may indeed have been the case." Yamamoto quipped. "What a coincidence."

Looking back and forth between his two peers, Ukitake finally gave up, his shoulders slumping as he gave out a sigh. Opening his eyes to look at the girl standing impatiently in front of him, Ukitake gave her a wry smile.

"We-well, lets do our best from here on out." he offered.

The girl in front of him crossed her arms, still frowning.

"I'm hungry." she stated flatly.

Ukitake sweatdropped as a tinge of worry passed over him.

* * *

As night grew, Lina sat in her new room in the thirteenth division headquarters, a lone lamp on the desk beside her the only source of light in the room as the sun had set a few hours earlier.

Sitting crosslegged on the floor, Lina was going over several scrolls she recieved from Ukitake which detailed the basic workings of the Shinigami-world. The one in her lap right now though was the one that explained the kidou-arts and it's details, as well as their spells.

Nodding thoughtfully as she went along, Lina concluded that the principle was similar to the magic from her era, thank the gods. She needed to change from where she called upon it's essence, but she was confident that she would master it relativly quickly considering her experience.

Before he had run off, Ukitake had ordered her to refrain from actually trying out any of the spells until the next morning when she had supervision. It had irked her something fearsome, but she had relucantly agreed.

Putting down the scroll, Lina looked up at the ceiling.

"I wonder why he had to rush off like that though." she mused. "Those guy said there was some kind of emergency happening... Something going on in the human-world?"

She shrugged. Since it was only Ukitake himself that was called and the shinigami-troops didn't seem to prepare to move out or anything she figured it was nothing major.

Casting a glanze to the side, she looked at the sword that stood in the corner of the room.

Letting the scroll roll off her lap, she crawled over and sat down, her back against the wall as she held the sword in front of her. Once again she gazed at it in puzzlement.

"Just why are you here?" she finally let out softly. "Didn't Sirius take you back to his world after we defeated Dark Star?" she questioned, eyeing the sword as if expecting it to answer.

She wouldn't have had a hard time believing it had made it's way here over the millennia, seeing as it was ancient already in HER time, but they said it was found inside the crystal WITH her. How could that be?

The room and the sword only gave her silence in return.

Continuing to gaze at it, Lina's vision started to get foggy as she couldn't help but remember what this sword represented to her.

Her small shoulders started to shake and she clutched the sword tightly to her body, trying in vain to hold back the tears as the emotions she had pushed back all day finally made their way out.

"Everything is gone..." she whispered harshly in a shaky tone as her head lowered.

"I saw it happening with my own eyes... They're all gone. I've lost everything. Everyone."

A lone drop of water could be seen falling onto the sword before several others started to follow. Lina clenched her teeth as her cheeks were now streaked with tears.

"What else can I do but move forward?"

Her small figure shook as she sat there, clutching the sword like a lifeline.

END CHAPTER 3

* * *

PREVIEW:

Lina: There you have it folks, I'm officially a shinigami-in-training! Tune in next time as I give my shot at casting kidou as well as prepearing to face off against my first hollow, probably... Anyways, you'd better read, or I'll REALLY cause some trouble!

Ukitake: Em, Miss Inverse... Can I please have the mic back?

Lina: No.

* * *

Shinigami's Cup. Golden!

"The first Arrancar-attack have succesfully been driven back. All signals have vanished as they have either been defeated or have retreated to Hueco Mundo." the shinigami-scientist stated as they were in the computer-room observing spiritual activity in the human world.

"And we suffered no fatal casulties. That's a relief." Kyouraku mused, letting out a weary but pleased sigh. It was then he noticed his companion's state. "Hm, what is it Jyuu-kun? You look completely spaced out."

"..." Ukitake gave no sign that he had even heard the man, continuing to stare blankly ahead. Kyouraku placed a hand on his shoulder as he tried to lighten his mood.

"There, there. I'm certain Rukia-chan will be alright. They got Orihime-chan to heal her after all."

"It's not that..." Ukitake finally replied after several long seconds, his posture still not changing.

"Hm? What is it then? Snap out of it and tell me already."

Kyouraku flinched back as his friend suddenly exploded into a frenzy.

"She ate it all!! Our entire food-rations!! How can that much food dissapear into such a small body?!" Ukitake ranted as he gestured with his hand into the air wildly.

Kyouraku blinked before it clicked "Huh?! Oh, that Lina-girl, right? Unohana DID say she had a healthy appetite, didn't she?"

"But at this rate my men will starve!" Ukitake broke out as he leaned over heavily, his arms placed on a table supporting his weight

Kyouraku could only look at his friend blankly before he let out. "Sheesh. Better your division than mine."

Ukitake sobbed.

* * *

Author Notes:

Yo, this is my first authors note despite it being chapter 4 already. Let me start by saying that I hope you're enjoying this story.

Sheesh, originally I wrote chapter 3 and 4 as one chapter, but seeing how long it ended up I decided to split it in half. Worked just as well since that allowed me to use the Shinigami's Cup Golden better. Anyways, chapter 3 was a big, tireing mess so I just posted it as it were. I will try to keep the text a little better paced from here on out.

This is my first (real) attempt on a bigger fanfic, and annoyingly I only have wordpad aveilable on the computer I have right now so I need to watch out for spell-errors by eye. Needless to say I won't catch them all so please bear with me.

What several people have asked me so far is if any other Slayers-characters will appear and/or play an active role. The answer is yes, but Very Few, probably only one or two of them. Tera Earth, you're in luck. I got quite amusing plans concerning THAT character in particular. Kuu ku ku ku ku.

Disclaimer: Don't own Slayers or Bleach. If I did I'd make a Slayers/Tenchi Muyo-ova with Washu as a Shabranigdo-carrier.


	5. Chapter 5

**Bleached Slayer chp5**

* * *

**Pre-chapter authors note:** For a look at Lina's customized shinigami-uniform, visit my deviantart-page. Link's in the bio.

* * *

Chaos itself was tearing at the seams, plummeting into disorder. It may sound contradicting, but it was true.

The Sea of Chaos, the cradle of existence, was being torn asunder by four great powers. Four... unruly _Children_ who had realized their reasons for existence and rejected it, ganging together in childish defiance as they lashed out against the world in a literal manner.

Stars fell, suns died and the cosmos quacked. Together, the four shredded existence itself. This could not be tolerated. This could NOT be accepted! The Golden Lord would not STAND for this disobedience!

At a galactic wasteland she stood there before them, the four towering over her diminutive form; A form not her own, but one needed for her to retaliate.

Raising her arm, energy visibly gathered within her palm...and released.

* * *

POOFFFFF

A small wisp of smoke trailed from the outstretched palm.

"Grrrrrr! Once more!! _Oh __Ye Lord - Mask of blood and flesh - All creation - Flutter of wings - Ye who bears the name of man - Inferno and Pandemonium - The sea barrier surges - March on to the south. Hado 31:__ Shakkahou!!_"

Once again the result was just a small poof from the caster's hand. Clutching it in irritation, Lina Inverse brought her hands to her head and started to tug at her hair as she whined in annoyance.

"Ghaaaa!! Why can't I do it??"

A few days earlier she had made due on the vow to herself and gotten around to fix her outfit. She obviously wasn't allowed to discard the shinigami-uniform, much to her dismay, but at least it had more of a personal touch now. She had removed the sleeves, leaving her bare-armed, and rolled up the pants-legs so that they ended just below her knees. Her lower leg and wrists had bandages wrapped around them and she had even managed to acquire a yellow top that passed over her left shoulder to wear over her uniform.

And of course, she'd attained a black headband as well, all in all making her image look more like what she was used to.

Her spell-performance was sorely lacking though.

"Perhaps you should give up on this already."

"Say what?!" Lina all but growled as she whirled around to look at the old man sitting there.

She had been assigned a teacher from the shinigami academy to give her some private kidou-classes, but the old guy had been nothing but an annoyance in Lina's opinion, doing nothing but spewing textbook material (stuff she'd already had a better understanding of even back in _Her_ era) and snorting at her attempts to produce a spell. Nothing constructive at all from him.

The jerk just quirked a bushy eyebrow at her, the air about him hinting that he obviously thought Lina was a waste of his time as well.

"We've been at this for hours and you've still managed to produce nil, just like you did the day before and the day before that. It's only to be expected as you've no proper academy training. Why the General Commander insisted that you'd be given this quick-course I have no idea, but it's clear that he was mistaken about you having prior "competence"."

"And I'm telling you," Lina protested, placing her hands on her hips. "I was a SORCERESS in my lifetime! There's No Way I don't have enough competence already. I got That and experience up the wazoo! I've read up on kidou and fully comprehended its workings, but for some reason I can't apply it into practice!"

"Which proves that you haven't understood it after all." the teacher said as he got up and started to walk off, snorting under his breath about the likelihood of magic existing in the living world.

"Hey, where the heck are you going?"

The man paused to look back at her. "Time's up for today. We'll continue your classes tomorrow, though by the looks of things it will just be waste of time. If you want my opinion Miss Inverse, I'd focus on relying on zanpaktou-techniques seeing that you appear to have no talent whatsoever in kidou."

"Say what?!" Lina bit out, but the old man waved her off as he continued walking.

"Now if you'll excuse me, Miss Sorceress, I've got REAL students to train. Please vacate the training grounds before my return." And with that, he disappeared into the building. Standing alone in the training area where not ONE target had been scratched in the least, Lina kicked a rock in frustration before slinking out of academy grounds.

Exiting the main gates, Lina stopped and hunched forward as she sighed dejectedly.

"I don't get it." she muttered listlessly. "From what I've gathered I should've been able to learn kidou easily so why can't I do it?"

"Ho-ho, looks like you've had a bad day."

"Kyaa!" Lina squeaked as someone suddenly spoke behind her. Whirling around, her expression went from surprise to a half-lidded stare as she saw who stood there smiling at her. "Oh great. It's the two stooges."

"We came to pick you up, Rookie!" Sentarou greeted gruffly, giving her a grin and a salute. "Looks like things haven't been going your way."

"Aah, Kutsubaki, that's rude! Can't you tell that she's depressed over having failed her expectations completely?" Kiyone chastised.

"Oi." Twitch.

"Who are you calling rude, you monkey-girl?! Besides, aren't YOU the one making her even more depressed?!" Sentarou growled back.

"That's your fault initially!!"

"How?!"

"It just IS!!"

Lina sighed heavily as the two 3rd seats of the 13th division butted heads. Due to Ukitake being preoccupied with something or another, she had been left in the hands of these two munchkins to guide and ensure she got around where she needed to be.

They were nice enough people, but their constant bickering could drive anyone up the wall, and Lina Inverse was NOT the most patient person in the world.

If she could, she probably would've fireballed them already just to make them shut up.

"Geh, enough of this. I'm leaving. I can find the way back to the 13th Division on my own." she said and walked off.

"Huh? Hey, wait for us!" They called, and ran after Lina when they finally noticed her leaving.

* * *

"_Ye Lord - Mask of blood and flesh - All creation - Flutter of wings - Ye who bears the name of man - Inferno and Pandemonium - The sea barrier surges - March on to the south! HADO 31: SHAKKAHO!!"_

The twitter of birds was the only thing heard in the grassy field Lina occupied, her arms aimed ahead of her towards a rock boulder as she stood there unmoving.

Her eye was twitching something fierce though.

"No dice." Sentarou commented from the sidelines where he lay on the grass, picking his nose with a bored look on his face. Kiyone sitting next to him on a small boulder was looking at Lina with a raised eyebrow, her expression being borderline-pity.

"Nee, Lina-chin, you've been at this for hours already. Don't you think you should call it quits for today?" she said. Lina, still unmoving, finally lowered her arms as she continued to stare ahead. The two veteran-shinigami looked at each other and sighed and were just about to say something when Lina let out a cry of rage, making the two jump in surprise, and stormed forward to deliver a violent punch towards the boulder she'd failed to use as a target. Sentarou and Kiyone started to cold sweat as they could see cracks starting to slowly spread from where Lina's hand met the rock until the entire thing crumbled into pieces.

As a finisher, Lina kicked one of the pieces so hard that it flew over the treetops and disappeared into the forest. Huffing in anger, Lina sat down on the ground, visibly steaming as she supported her chin with her hands.

"DAMMIT!! What am I doing wrong?!"

"Maybe kidou just isn't your thing, Lina." Kiyone said as she walked over with her arms behind her head.

"Lord knows that you certainly don't NEED it." Sentarou added uneasily as he looked at the debris she sat in with a raised eyebrow.

"You don't understand!" Lina exclaimed. "Stuff like this was my element back when I was alive! There is No Way that I'm giving up on this, but for the love of L-sama, I can't figure out what I'm doing WRONG!"

Lina buried her face into her arms in exasperation as her two companions gave each other a silent gaze. Ukitake had mentioned Lina being a special-case, hence why she was undergoing this special training-program, but since they weren't privy to any details they didn't know what to make of her claim.

They didn't doubt the reasons behind her special-treatment though as the small girls' reiatsu was quite noticeable as it spiked every time Lina's rage flared.

"W-well, maybe you just need to take your minds off things and it'll come to you eventually." Sentarou let out.

"That's it!" Kiyone supplemented. "For now at least you should just focus on the other parts of your Shinigami-training and you'll get the hang of it before you know it."

"Hey, I just said that, jerk!" Sentarou snarled at her. "Quit trying to copy me, you little monkey-girl."

"Who are you calling a monkey, you gorilla!" she snarled back. "Besides, what I said was completely different!"

"No it wasn't!"

"It was!"

"Then?" Lina cut in as her reiatsu spiked dangerously. The two looked at her immediately as she sat there, head resting in her palms again as she looked at the two with a slightly annoyed glare. "Just what do you suggest I work on in the meantime?" she let out as the pressure from her reiatsu started to return to bearable levels. The girl wasn't even completely aware of what she was doing, something that gave the other two another case of cold sweat.

Getting their wits back, the two looked at each other a few seconds before turning as one to grin at Lina.

This time it was HER who started to cold sweat nervously.

* * *

"I've heard the girl you brought back finally woke up." Soi Fon, Captain of the 2nd Division let out as she marched determinedly down her path. The one walking beside her, one Kuchiki Byuakuya, simply hn'ed in response.

"Is that all you have to say on the matter?" Soi Fon added after a few seconds silence.

"Is there anything I should comment on?" Byuakuya replied in turn, showing no interest in the subject.

"One would think so, yes. You were one of those who retrieved her. Do you really think such a piteous-looking person could even hope to become one of our equals?"

Soi Fon had seen the girl while she was laying comatose in the 4th Division. With all the hype surrounding this retrieval-mission, she had Not been impressed.

Byakuya marched on silently, stonefaced as ever before he finally answered. "Since I have yet to see her since she awoke, I have nothing to base an opinion on. However, if her strength can reach anything near the powersurge what we experienced in Hueco Mundo then she should at least be able to provide a semblance of balance back to our fractured divisions."

Soi Fon looked up at the other captain, silently contemplating before she returned her gaze forward. "I see." she finally added.

As their paths separated, Byuakuya threw out one last comment over his shoulder, just because. "You surprise me though. I figured you'd be the last person to judge by physical stature… 2nd Commander."

Soi Fon took a double-take, then stood there and fumed silently as she watched the man leave.

* * *

A bright light shone as a doorway suddenly materialized out of thin air. The sliding doors opened and three figures could be seen walking through.

"We're here, we're here." Kiyone said enthusiastically as she exited and started to stretch out, her arms lifted towards the sky as her back worked out the kinks.

"How's that, Rookie?" Sentarou said. "This is your first experience with the Senkaimon, right? Eh… what are you doing?" he trailed off as he turned fully to look behind him. Kiyone paused in her stretching to look behind her as well.

Lina was currently standing half-way out of the gate, arching over so she could look at the gateways backside.

"Hey, this is pretty cool." she said. "On this side it's a gate, but from behind it's just a flat wall. It's like we're appearing out of a sheet of paper, how bizarre." she giggled until she looked back and caught the stumped expressions they were both giving her. Regaining her composure, she mumbled a "Never mind…" as she fully exited and the gateway behind her closed and disappeared.

'Dear L-sama,' she thought, facepalming. 'It feels like I was channelizing GOURRY there for a second.'

Shaking her head to get rid of that thought, Lina started to take in her surroundings. They seemed to be up on a hillside with trees surrounding the path they stood on. Up ahead she could make out a stone-stair going up the hill.

"Well what do you think about the living world, Lina-chin?" Kiyone asked with a smile. Lina took some breaths of air before she decided to answer.

"The atmosphere is different from Soul Society, that's noticeable for sure, but where exactly ARE we? Are we close to a populated area?" Lina asked as she continued to gaze around. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Sentarou pressing buttons on a small metallic device with a screen.

"Well, kinda. Right up here is an old shrine that is sometimes used as a burial ground so we'll probably not run into anyone living, but there might be a few wayward souls about." Sentarou said absentmindedly as he was pressing away on the device. "We're a bit ways from the closest city after all"

Lina sweatdropped. "So my first trip to the living world and you take me to where everyone's dead?" she sighed. "And here I was hoping to see a town or something." she muttered disappointed.

"This is a good place to find a hollow though." Kiyone mentioned. "The science and surveillance-guys said that a decently average one was roaming the area. Hey Kutsubaki! Haven't you got a lock on the thing yet?"

"Yeah, yeah, just give me a second."

""Decently average one", huh?" Lina deadpanned. "In other words, a _weak_ one?"

"Well it is your first hollow after all. Best to start these things carefully – Ah, got it! It's this way." Sentarou exclaimed, pointing up the hill. As they moved over to walk up the stairway, Lina trailed after, a little put off.

"I'll have you know, I've slayed more monsters and demons than I'd care to count. A little run-of-the-mill wraith shouldn't be a problem for someone like me." she shrugged in a bored manner as she climbed the stairs.

"Oh really now?" Sentarou replied as he walked up front. "And tell me, how did you go about doing that?"

"Simple." Lina said smugly. "I'd just whip up a few spells, then… ah." She grinned then trailed off as she realized the flaw here.

"Then there's definitely a good thing to start carefully." Sentarou punctuated as he and Kiyone grinned back at her. That Lina crossed her arms and hmph'ed childishly only made them grin wider.

Before long they had made it to the top of the stairs. What they found was indeed an old, rusty shrine standing in a wide clearing surrounded by trees on all sides. Beside the shrine was a section that served as a burial field if the tombstones were anything to go by.

As for spiritual activity…; zilch.

"Well, where is it?" Kiyone whined impatiantly. "There's nothing around here!"

"Shut up for a second, I'm looking!" Sentarou said as he typed franticly at the small device. "Huh? That's odd… I've lost the signal."

"What do you mean "lost the signal", you oaf! Hurry up and find it!"

"Shut up already! I'm trying!"

As the two stooges started to bicker once again, Lina sighed in resignation and was about to walk off when she suddenly felt a nasty chill run up her spine.

She whipped around abruptly just in time to see an explosion of dust happen behind the trees on the far right of the field.

The three shinigami saw what looked like an old priest, apparently a human ghost considering the chain that hang from his chest, run into the field followed by something that was definitely not! Lina could only gape as she saw the huge, humanoid-looking creature that looked like a cross between a large troll and a kabuto-beetle, punctuated by the skull-like mask it was wearing. The roar it let out was a nasty, gargling sound.

"A hollow…" she whispered as a trickle of sweat ran down her chin.

"Hey, Rookie! It's time to get to work!" Sentarou called, knocking her out of her stupor.

"Eh? Ah, yeah!"

Ahead the old priest had fallen over and lay there in fear as the hollow closed in on him. It roared and let one of its massive fist fly down at the man, making the ground explode in a cloud of debris and dust.

As it pulled its arm up however, the man was nowhere to be seen. Puzzled, the hollow looked ahead and snarled as it saw its prey being flanked by three people in black, two of them holding the old man while the third and smallest one stood in front, blocking the path. The hollow let out a shrill cry at the interference.

"Who-who are you people?" the old priest asked bewildered as he was held up by Kiyone and and Sentarou. He was ignored in favor of the two shouting to the redheaded girl in front.

"Now it's your turn, Rookie!"

"Remember to aim for the mask!" Kiyone called.

"Yeah, yeah, I GOT the memo." Lina waved them off. As the others backed away, Lina pulled out her blade and held it ahead of her, challenging the hollow. "You won't find any food here today, ugly! Now you're facing ME, Lina Inverse!"

The thing looked down at her, blinking, and of all things started to laugh as it walked up to her and gestured with its palm up and down over her head, obviously making fun of their size-difference.

Lina, never having been one to let mocking of her size go unpunished, cut off its laughter by grumpily stabbing her sword into its toe in pure spite.

The hollow jumped around clutching its foot for a bit before it roared in anger and went to punch Lina with its right arm.

As the massive fist crashed into the ground, Lina had twirled out of its way then proceeded to dash forward alongside it as she let her blade trail up its side, creating a long cut in the hollow's arm. The hollow jerked back as it wailed in agony before turning around to face Lina who was now behind it, and let lose another punch with its good arm. Lina readjusted her grip on the sword in a visually impressive manner, and slashed clean through the arm at the elbow, making the cut-off appendage sail by her and crash into the ground before it dissolved into particles and vanished.

As the hollow once again roared in agony, Sentarou couldn't help but let out a whistle.

"Whoa, not bad for a rookie. Maybe there's something to her having experience."

"But what kind of swordform is that? I've never seen it before." Kiyone said, amazed by the grace and efficiency Lina had dodged and attacked with.

"Who knows, but it works. COME ON, ROOKIE! ITS GUARD IS WIDE OPEN!" Sentarou shouted as the hollow's face was indeed unguarded.

Eyeing her chance, Lina leaped high into the air as she swung down her sword to pierce the skull-mask. "This is where it ends, ugly! Hai-yaaaaa!!"

An enormous CLANG sounded as her blade hit the mask though.

"CLANG??" Sentarou and Kiyone echoed.

Lina on her end was shaking violently in mid-air as the shock from the impact reverberated throughout her body. "EeeEaaaAaahHhh!"

Unable to move, she was swatted away as a fly by the hollow's remaining arm. Sailing across the field, Lina crashed into the ground and rolled until she hit a tree near where Sentarou and Kiyone were guarding the old man.

"What the hell happened there?! You had a PERFECT opportunity!" Sentarou exclaimed as Lina was picking herself up.

"Shut up! That damn thing was as hard as granite. There's no way a metal-blade could cut through!" she spat back.

"I've never heard a hollow-mask give off a clang before." Kiyone mused as she looked at the thing. "It probably has a way tougher hide than an average hollow, the way it looks like a kabuto-beetle and all." she said, gesturing to the armor-like hide that covered its back, head and chest.

"Che! Lucky me getting one with special armor." Lina snorted.

"Do you want us to help, Lina-chin?"

"No way! This guy's mine!" she yelled as she dashed to the side, making her way away from the others as the hollow had started to advance towards her.

She jumped out of the way as the hollow got close enough to try and punch her, but was unable to cut it as the hollow now was much more cautious about giving her a chance to take its other arm. Lina was caught off guard as it bended forward to swipe after her with its kabuto-like horn, barely managing to bring her blade up in time. Another clang resonated and Lina was once again thrown away.

The hollow roared as Lina landed on her back.

"Ugh, it looks like there's no way I can crack that ugly mask of yours at this rate." she said as she climbed back to her feet, using the blade to support her.

She then held it in front of her before she put it back in its sheet, saying; "Looks like I'll have to call out the big guns."

Tinkering with its hilt, the hollow blinked in surprise as she pulled out the sword's sheet with no blade attached to it.

"No matter how hard that head of yours is, there's no way it'll bounce off THIS blade! Light come Forth!!" she yelled as she let out the true blade of the sword.

Everyone there, even the hollow, looked on mesmerized as the blade of light materialized and shone brightly. … For about 5 seconds before it suddenly fizzled out.

"…eh?" Lina let out, stupefied.

Silence reigned as everyone stood frozen until the hollow started to guffaw again, clutching its belly with its one arm as it laughed.

"**BWUA HA HA HA HA HA HA!!**"

"What the hell, what the hell, what the hell?!" Lina ranted as she tried to shake life back into the hilt. "Come on, Light come forth! Light come forth! LIGHT COME FORTH, damn you!!"

She held the hilt in front of her face to closer inspect the hole the blade shots out from – something she would've realized was a very stupid thing to do if she'd been seeing someone else (Read: Gourry) do it – as a large shadow fell over her.

She looked up hesitantly to see the hollow towering over her, its look of mirth nowhere present.

"… Well, crap."

She was unable to fully dodge the punch it threw and was blown aside from the impact, the hilt escaping her grip and sliding across the field.

"Lina-chin/Rookie!!" the two veteran-shinigami exclaimed as the hollow threw itself at her, creating an enormous dust-cloud as it impacted where she lay. They started to move in to attack before they could hear Lina shout; "WAIT!"

As the dust settled they could see Lina flat on her back with the hollow's face pretty much on top of her. It was trying to sink its teeth into her there and then, but Lina was holding it back by keeping the teeth from closing by pushing with her arms. It was obviously a strenuous ordeal, but Lina, teeth gritted, looked no less determined than the hollow to win the power-struggle.

"Stay back…" she gritted out between clenched teeth, her glare never leaving the monstrous face trying to eat her. "I still haven't…guhhk…lost yet."

"Lina-chin, be reasonable!" Kiyone shouted, alarmed. "That thing is on top of you and you've lost your blade! There's no way you can win!!"

"I'm warning you… STAY BACK..!!" she grit out once again, struggling against the bigger creature. The hollow seemed to overpower her for a sec, but Lina quickly pulled up a leg and placed it on its lower maw to keep the jaws of doom at bay.

Sentarou and Kiyone could only look on as the two pushed back and forth against each other, neither willing to let up. Eventually though, the hollow began to gain ground as Lina started to run out of strength. It was during this ordeal that she ended up doing something completely on instinct. Pulling back one arm from where she was pushing, Lina tossed it upwards as if she was throwing a spell. Surprisingly though, THIS time something happened!

A shockwave of energy hit the hollow straight in the face, causing it to rear its head back. Lina blinked for a split-second before she rolled to the side and sprang to her feet, gaining herself some distance between her and the beast.

Blinking in confusion, she looked down at her hand for several seconds as what had just happened sunk in. Finally, she clenched it.

"Let's give it a try then." she muttered as she looked up determinedly and started to skip backwards a few feet to gain more distance. The hollow had gotten up and started to charge against her, running on all three this time like a raging rhino (or a rhino that'd lost a leg at least). Standing her ground, Lina started to chant.

"_Source of all power, light which burns beyond crimson, let thy power gather in my hand. FIREBALL!"_ she called and thrust her arm out towards the beast.

Once again, nada.

"Dammit, I KNEW that wouldn't work!" she whined, comically crying rivers of tears as she leaped to the side, dodging the hollow's charge by a hair. Said charge continued into the row of tomb stones behind Lina's previous position, utterly decimating them.

"What the hell are you playing at Rookie/Lina-chin?!" the two other shinigami yelled from the side as Lina rolled to a stop.

"Just had to try something out, but I guess it was no good." Lina replied over her shoulder as she got to her feet and turned to face the hollow. The hollow was repositioning itself, blowing steam out of its nose like a enraged bull before it began to charge anew. Lina once again assumed a ready-position.

"This time let's try a modern one." she said with a slight smile before once again beginning to chant.

"_O Lord - Mask of flesh and bone - All creation - Flutter of wings - Y__e who bears the name of man - Truth and temperance - Upon this sinless wall of dreams unleash but slightly the wrath of your claws!" _

As she chanted, the air in the area kicked up as energy visually started to gather around Lina's form. The two veteran-shinigami and the hollow made big eyes as Lina thrust forward her arm as she completed the chant:

"_Hadou #33: Soukatsui!"_

The effects were immediate and overwhelming. A massive and violent stream of blue energy shot out of Lina's hand, tearing a large rift into the ground as it trailed forward. The sudden pressure caused Lina to slightly loose her balance and the hollow was just barely able to dodge out of the way as the unstoppable stream continued forward and finally crashed into the old shrine on the other side of the field. As the dust settled, one giant scar could be seen in the ground, trailing all the way from Lina's position to the now decimated building.

"Whohoo!! She did it!!" Kiyone yelled ecstatically as she thrust an arm into the air in triumph. At her side, Sentarou merely stood there gaping like a fish, amazed by the sheer destructive power that one spell displayed. Lina was panting slightly where she stood, her arm still stretched out in casting-position before she slowly pulled it back and took a deep breath.

'This is it!!' she thought as she clenched her fist. 'THIS is the feeling I've been searching for! But why wasn't I able to – Oh, I see. Now I get it!'

The hollow was getting up from where it had sprawled on the ground, but this time there was an obvious hesitation in its movement as it kept its eyes trained on Lina. It tensed and leaped to the side as Lina suddenly aimed for it again.

"I won't miss this time." she smirked. _"Hadou #33: Soukatsui!"_

This time she had more control over the spell and the blue blast exploded into the side of the hollow. The thing roared in agony as it crashed to the ground, favoring its side with its remaining arm. Lina took the opportunity to run to where her sword-hilt lay and picked it up, placing it back on top of its sheet. The thing made a clicking-sound as she adjusted it into place, apparently reattaching the metal-blade, before she looked up to meet the hollow's gaze. The hollow was lying on the ground glaring at her with eyes full of hate.

"Hmm, though its fleshy areas look injured, it seems that armor of his hardly even got a scratch." she mused out loud, referring to the kabuto-beetle shell that covered the hollow's back and head. "Cracking open that head of his may be a bit of a challenge."

"Sh-should we assist you?" Sentarou said as he and Kiyone came running over to her.

"That's right, Lina-chin!" Kiyone said, trying to persuade the girl. "This hollow obviously have an abnormal hide despite its strength-level. You've done more than enough already so let us help!" Her expression was almost pleading.

"Relax, relax." Lina said, waving them off with her hand nonchalantly. "I think I've got things under control... Well, now at least." she muttered awkwardly at the end.

"Then how do you plan to destroy its mask? That thing must be hard as hell!" Sentarou asked curiously. From the way he acted, it was obvious he was getting anxious over the whole thing. Lina put a finger on her jaw as if in thought before she looked ahead.

"If I can't crack its shell, then I will just have to work my way around it."

"Huh? How are you gonna-Hey Rookie! Wait!" Sentarou shouted as Lina dashed forward, chanting under her breath. The hollow was once again on its feet and swiped after her with its arm as she closed in. Lina somersaulted out of the way as the fist punched into the ground, and she vaulted back on her feet, now having a clear shot on the hollow's midsection.

"Chance" she singsonged. _"Hadou #33: Soukatsui!"_

The blue blast exploded into the beast's stomach, and as it arched forward from the blow, Lina drew her sword and charged it right into its eye socket. The hollow recoiled in agony, tossing its head back as it roared in pain.

"Thanks for being so cooperative!" Lina yelled with a smirk as she hang on, her sword keeping her anchored onto the hollows face as it was recoiling backwards. The hollows remaining eye widened in terror as it saw that a red ball was gathering in her free hand and that she was chanting under her breath.

"_..Y__e who bears the name of Man - Inferno and Pandemonium - The sea barrier surges - March on to the south! HADO 31: SHAKKAHO!!" Lina roared and in the moment of the spell's activation plunged her casting-arm into the hollows eye socket._

The hollow's head exploded in a red light as the spell detonated_ behind_ its mask, sending Lina flying back from the shockwave. As she landed harshly on her butt she saw the hollow let one wisp of smoke out from its mouth before it fell forward, the flesh-parts of its body disintegrating as it did. What landed on the ground was an empty mask and armor before it too slowly cracked and crumbled, fading away into dust.

As she could hear the other two rejoice at her victory, Lina closed her eyes and laid herself flat on the ground. She'd done it. She'd slayed her first hollow. After taking a deep breath contently, she opened her eyes then started as she looked behind her position. She was laying just at the end of the clearing and had apparently noticed something beyond the trees.

Without removing her eyes from whatever it was she'd seen, Lina rolled over on her stomach and gingerly began getting to her feet, despite her body's protests. As she had finally gotten up however, she almost barreled over as Sentarou and Kiyone simultaneously slapped her on the back.

"GHA!!"

"Way to go, Rookie!" Sentarou grinned as Lina rubbed her sore back. "That was _Some_ strategy you pulled there!"

"That was soo awesome, Lina-chin!" Kiyone echoed, stars in her eyes. "Casting a spell _Behind _it's armor, I've never seen anything like it!"

"Mh, well yeah. It just seemed like a good idea, you know." Lina replied awkwardly, a little put out by the two enthusiastic faces invading her private space.

"By the way, how come you were able to cast kidou all of a sudden? Kiyone asked curiously.

"Yeah, yeah, I was wondering about that too." Sentarou agreed.

"Ah, about that." Lina began as she scratched her cheek. "I believe it's because we're in the mortal realm."

"What do you mean?" they blinked.

"Well you see, Soul Society is completely composed out of spirit particles, right?" At their nod, she continued. "The thing is that I've been there for such a short time that I simply haven't gotten accustomed to it. HERE I was able to clearly reach out and grasp the energy needed to cast kidou, but in Soul Society its presence was so overwhelming that I simply couldn't identify it. It was kinda like trying to scoop up water in your hands while you're completely submerged. I didn't know what to look for."

"Hmm, I guess that does make sense in a way." Sentarou said as he placed a hand on his jaw in thought.

"Ah!" Lina suddenly exclaimed as she remembered something and turned back towards the trees.

"Hm? What's the matter, Rookie?" Sentarou blinked.

Without answering, Lina made her way out of the clearing, pushing back the branches as she passed the trees. Her eyes widened in amazement when she finally had an unobstructed view of her target.

She was now at the edge of the hill they were on and had a clear view of the area surrounding it. Below and beyond there was mostly a green blanket of trees and forests, but in the horizon she could clearly see a city unlike anything she'd ever seen before. There were hundreds of buildings, both big and small, and they stretched out over an area as large as a small kingdom. The bigger buildings were square-formed and linear - some looking like bricks while others like they were completely made out of glass - but their sheer height and volume were breathtaking. Countless streets flowed between the buildings like rivers, and she could also make out some weird-looking wagons moving around without the aid of horses to pull them.

The whole thing was surreal to her.

"Whoa…" she breathed in amazement.

"Ah, I get it. This is your first time seeing a modern city, huh?" Sentarou grinned as he walked up beside her. "No wonder you're blown away."

"I… This…" Lina stammered, failing to find words to describe it. "Do all cities look like _That_ now?"

"Well, there _are_ smaller cities, of course…" Kiyone began from Lina's other side. "But there are those much, MUCH bigger than this as well!" she said, gesturing with her arms as she described their sizes, and threw them out as far as she could stretch them at the end.

"I see…" Lina muttered as she turned back to look at the city. She really didn't know what to make of that statement.

"Well, that's enough for now." Senatarou said as he clapped Lina on the shoulder. "It's time for us to get going."

"Eeehh??" Lina exclaimed, highly dismayed with the idea. "Can't we go sightsee?" she whined and pointed towards the town in the distance.

"No can do, Rookie. Our orders were to return to Soul Society as soon as we were done. Maybe some other time though." he trailed off as he started to make his way back through the trees.

"Besides, there's still one thing left for you to do." Kiyone smiled, making Lina blink in confusion.

"Huh? Like what?"

* * *

As the trio made their way back into the clearing, they could see the ghost of the old priest walk around stumped, gesturing emptily at the signs of the earlier battle and generally looking to be at a loss for words. He then saw the shinigami return and made his way over to them.

"You… You…" he began, his hand shaking in the air as he pointed at Lina.

"Ah… You can relax old man. Just doing my job, that's all." Lina said as she started to smile embarrassed. "However, if you would happen to have a reward…" she grinned, rubbing her hands together.

"You… You VANDAL!"

"..eh?"

"You fiend! LOOK at what you've done with the place!" the old priest shouted as he gestured to the clearing behind him with his arm. "This was sacred grounds and you've gone and completely decimated it! Even the tombstones…"

"Now, now old timer…" Sentarou began uncomfortably, trying to calm the upset spirit. "Lina destroyed the hollow that was trying to eat you after all."

"Y-Yeah." Kiyone agreed. "She saved you. You should be thankful…"

"THANKFUL?!" the priest roared in anger, making the two veteran-shinigami 'eep' in fright. "My life is worth NOTHING compared to the welfare of the shrine." he sobbed before once again pointing an accusatory finger at Lina. "If you were going to cause such vandalism then you should rather have let it eat me, you… You disaster! Demon! Enemy of all who Live! You… Youuu…"

Lina who had stood unmoving the whole while, slowly turned her face to the other two shinigami, ignoring the old man's continuous ranting. "Nee?" she said softly, catching their attention. "This "Soul Burial"-thing, how is it performed?"

"O-Ooh, that." Sentarou began. "Basicly you take your zanpaktou and gently press the end of the hilt onto the spirit's forhead."

"I see." Lina replied softly and slowly began drawing her blade as she advanced towards the still ranting priest.

"..priceless artifacts, not to mention the building itself destroyed!" he yelled. "Do you have any idea what an atrocity you've performed?! You... You…"

WHAK!!

"Ghu!!"

"I said _Gently_!!"

END CHAPTER 5

* * *

PREVIEW:

Lina: Yosha-Yosha-YOSHA! The first hollow under my belt and I've finally gotten this kidou-thing going too. Next we'll see if I can't kick back with a more relaxing day for once. Do some sightseeing. Maybe even visit a city in the mortal realm if I get my way, something I often do. Hehe.

Karin: You know, there's definitely something suspicious about you.

Lina: Gulp No, no, it's just your imagination. Ehe… Ehehehehehe.

* * *

SHINIGAMI'S CUP. GOLDEN!

"I'm telling you Captain Ukitake, there's no point to it." the old academy teacher said as he walked alongside Ukitake on 13th Division-grounds. "No disrespect to the General Commander, but I think your faith in the girl's abilities are completely groundless. I can see no reason to continue her classes."

"Now, now, surely you must be overreacting." Ukitake said, trying to calm the ranting elder. "Lina was so looking forward to learning kidou so surely there must be something that can be done."

The old man huffed as if that idea was a poor joke.

"No, I'm afraid not. I'm telling you, that girl has no potential in kidou whatsoever!!"

"PULL!"

Clatter!

"Huh?" the two men echoed, then looked in the direction they'd heard the shout. On the field next to them they could see Sentarou, Kiyone and Lina standing, facing an open area. The odd thing was that Sentarou and Kiyone appeared to be holding stacks of dishes.

"Pull!" Lina yelled, and on her command Kiyone threw a plate. As it sailed through the air, Lina quickly took aim and fired a kidou-spell. _"Hadou #33: Soukatsui" _

The spell hit perfectly, and the dish was reduced to dust.

"Pull!" she shouted once more and this time both Sentarou and Kiyone threw dishes, tossing two each.

"_Hado__u #4: Byakurai!"_ Lina called and this time a white lightning shot out of her fingertips. Moving her arm as she fired, she was able to arch the path of the lightning and managed to nail all four plates with the same spell.

"Pull!"

Ukitake and the academy teacher only stood there and blinked as the display continued until they finally turned to look at each other. The old teacher seemed to bristle for a second before he quickly turned and started to walk in the opposite direction, clearly intent on leaving the grounds.

"I… I will go prepare the advanced lessons for tomorrow." he tossed over his shoulder, and red-faced started to walk faster as Ukitake's soft laughter trailed after him.

* * *

**Authors Notes:**

Whoo, chapter 5 is finally out. It's a big one compared to my earlier chappies, but that can only be a good thing really. Well, not really, but lets hope so.

In other news I hope everyone have heard by now that a 4th season for Slayers is finally on the way called "Slayers Revolution". They got the original director to do it so let's hope it lives up to it's previous glory after all these years.

Disclaimer: Of course these characters aren't mine. What, are you kidding?


	6. Chapter 6

**Bleached Slayer **

Chapter 6

It was night and silence reigned over the 13th Division HQ. The half moon shone, casting a tranquil twilight over the quarters where the members of the division who were lucky enough to be off duty slept like children.

One such person was laying on her futon, slumbering peacefully in her room as suddenly a shadow slid over her. As if noticing the shadow's non-existent weight on her, Lina Inverse stirred and peeked slowly overhead of her position. ..Only to find herself face to face with someone crouched over her lying form, the figure's ghostly face emphasised by shadows as the eyes gazed on disturbingly.

"..I had another nightmare."

"GYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!"

"KYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA??"

The two occupants of the room flailed in panic of each other, tossing themselves back towards opposite walls.

"W-Who are You?" the person breathed heavily as she leaned back against the wall.

"Who am I?! Who the Hell are YOU?!"

Before either of the frightened people received answer, the door to the room slid open showing Kiyone standing there in her sleeping robes.

"Neechan, you went into the wrong room again." she chastised.

"Eh?"

"Eh?" Lina echoed, pointing back and forth between the two. "… "Neechan"?"

* * *

"I'm so sorry." Isane said, bowing her head several times in apology as she sat on her knees. "I was trying to find Kiyone's room and ended up coming in here by accident. I'm so sorry."

Lighting a candlelight on her desk, Lina sat down on the floor across from her, followed by Kiyone who also took a seat.

"Neechan is troubled by frequent nightmares, Lina-chin, so she often comes over when she's had one." Kiyone explained.

"Oh, is that so?" Lina grumbled, looking at Kiyone.

"Once again, I'm so sorry!" Isane persisted, bowing her head once again.

"Alright! Alright already! Sheesh! I guess I can forgive you, just this once." Lina stated, scratching her head in annoyance. This woman was really taking this too seriously.

Isane looked up, a tiny tear in her eye as she smiled gratefully. "Thank you! It won't happen again!"

"Yes, yes. I got it." Lina waved it off.

Isane suddenly blinked and then leaned a bit forward as she took a closer look at Lina.

"Ah! You are…"

"Hm? You know me?"

"I didn't notice in the dark earlier, but… you… You're Lina Inwards, right?" she inquired curiously, pointing a finger at her.

"INVERSE!!" Lina exploded, slamming her hand into the floor. "My name is Lina Inverse!!"

"Ah, yes!" Isane replied quickly as both she and Kiyone became a little startled by the outburst. "Captain Unohana said that, but I forgot. Sorry. I guess I'm just so used to thinking of you as Inwards…" she stated, putting a hand behind her head in light embarrassment.

"Unohana?" Lina blinked. "Are you a member of her division?"

"Yes. I'm the Vice-captain of the 4th division, Kotetsu Isane. Nice to meet you." she bowed formally.

"Ah, yes. Likewise." Lina replied quickly, awkwardly repeating the gesture. "I see, you're Unohana-san second in command. I guess it would make sense that you'd heard of me." she mused.

"Oh, I did much more than that."

"Eh?"

"To tell the truth, Captain Unohana put me in charge of supervising you while you were at our division." she began. "I performed the routinary check-ups on your health condition, as well as taking personally care of your hygiene and changing your robes and bedsheets when needed. I guess you could say I already know you at an intimate level." she said, giggling softly at her joke.

"…I'm not quite sure how to feel about that." Lina mumbled to herself.

"AH!! No fair, that's cheating, Neechan!" Kiyone suddenly burst out, pouting at her older sister childishly.

"And I'm _Definitely_ not sure what to feel about THAT." Lina stated, raising a weirded-out eyebrow at the previous statement.

"But Lina-san, there's one thing I'm curious about…" Isane added.

"Hm, what?" Lina replied, only to sweatdrop as Isane leaned forward and pulled back her hair. She then brought up a hand and pointed at Lina's now-exposed forehead.

"These two dots right here, what are those? I couldn't figure it out at all." Isane said, puzzlement evident in her voice.

"Hey, I never saw those." Kiyone voiced as she leaned over to look. "Ha ha, how neat! Are they birthmarks or something?"

"Get off! That's none of your business!" Lina growled and quickly combed her hair back down frustrated as the other two returned to their sitting positions.

"Anyways, I'm really sorry for waking you up like this." Isane bowed again.

"Hey, we already took care of that! Don't lead this conversation in circles!" Lina snapped.

"Speaking of which, this is like the 3rd time this week you've come over." Kiyone mused out loud.

"EH?!" Lina jerked. "But it's just Thursday tomorrow! Cripes, you've REALLY got to do something about those nightmares of yours! Like, see a councillor or something!"

"I've tried that!" Isane protested. "I've also tried everything from ancient herbal medicine to state of the art ones, but nothing works." she sighed, a cloud of gloom descending upon her.

"Ah… Is that so." Lina sweatdropped.

"Wasn't there supposed to be some new drug for that in the living world now though?" Kiyone inquired, tilting her head a little.

'The living world!' Lina thought.

"Yes, about that!" Isane's head shot up. "Captain Unohana gave me permission to go there and acquire some tomorrow. Kiyone, you'll come with, right?" she pleaded.

"Eeh? No way, I'm busy tomorrow."

"Oh come on, pleeeaseee? I don't want to travel all the way aloneee." Isane whined.

"Sorry, sis, but I'm booked! I've gotta help the captain, you know. Besides, God knows what'll happen if I leave Kutsubaki alone with him for a whole day." Kiyone said, grumbling the last part to herself. Then something hit her. "I know! Why don't you take Lina with you?"

"Eh?"

"Eh??"

"Sure, why not?" Kiyone continued, looking at Lina. "You wanted to see what the living realm is like, right? And with the way your training has been going I'm certain Captain Ukitake will allow it. This'll work perfectly!" she smiled.

"Hmm, I dunno. Is that ok with you, Isane-san?"

"As long I don't have to travel through that scary Dangai alone then I'm fine with it." Isane smiled.

"The what? Wouldn't you just use the Senkaimon to travel directly?" Lina blinked.

"There's a technicality, Lina-san. We would first need to enter a pair of gigai - faux bodies – to gain physical form, or otherwise we wouldn't be able to interact with the living and I wouldn't be able to buy the medicine." Isane replied.

"And the only way to travel over with a physical form is to go through the Dangai, the area _between_the living realm and Soul Society." Kiyone finished.

"Which is a really scary place." Isane shuddered. "It's dark and slimy. Ugh!"

"Ok, I think I can see how that hangs together." Lina scratched her head as she processed the information. Kinda amazing really, this whole gigai-concept, she thought. She then clapped her hands together and smiled. "Well ok, I'll do it. Tomorrow it is then."

"Thank you, I really appreciate this." Isane smiled while Kiyone just grinned.

* * *

In the hallway, a short distance outside Lina's door, a handful of shinigami had gathered as result of the occasional yelling coming from inside.

"Sheesh, they're loud in there. What the hell do they think they're doing in the middle of the night?" a guy said, frowning at the laughter coming from the room.

"Tell that monkey Kiyone to quiet down in there before they wake the captain." Sentarou ordered.

"I'm already up, Sentarou." a voice called as he walked up to the others.

"Ca- Captain Ukitate! I apologize! I should've gone in and told them to shut up right from the beginning." Sentarou rambled, bowing deeply.

"It couldn't be helped; I woke up from the initial screams after all." Ukitake said, making placating motions with his hands. He then looked at the door at the end of the hallway. "That one scream earlier... It was Isane again, wasn't it?"

"Yeah. And of all places to go, she ended up in Inverse's room." Sentarou laughed.

"I see. Then no wonder." Ukitake snorted softly. "Alright, go back to bed people. I'll go tell them to quiet down."

"I'll come with captain." Sentarou volunteered.

"Uh, ok. Just don't get into a shouting match with Kiyone at this hour." Ukitake sweatdropped.

As the two made their way down the hallway, Sentarou quietly turned towards Ukitake.

"Ya know, it seems Inverse has agreed to go to the living world with Kiyone's sister tomorrow, captain."

"Lina has? Hmm, her abilities are at a reasonable level so I guess it wouldn't be a problem to let her take a little trip." Ukitake mused. "We might as well tell her that now." he smiled.

"Roger that." Sentarou grinned in return.

They were just about to knock on the door as they heard the conversation resume inside.

"Anyways, I'm going back to bed." Lina's voice drifted through the door. "You guys just go and I'll see you in the morning."

"Eeeh? You're kicking us out??" Kiyone whined.

"Uh, _yeah_? Why shouldn't I?"

"Kiyone, lets just go. We need to sleep as well." Isane's soft voice said.

"There you have it. Take your big sister now and go back to your room." Lina said, her tone of voice making it obvious that she was waving Kiyone off.

"I've got a better idea! Why don't we all sleep here?!"

"Eh?"

"Haah?!"

"It'll be great!" Kiyone continued enthusiastically. "It'll be like a sleepover!"

"Are you kidding me? There's no way that you could – _Ouffh!_ – What the hell are you doing?! Get out of my futon!"

"See? No worries, no worries." The grin in Kiyone's voice could be detected a mile away.

"Ah, if that's the case then I guess its ok." Isane said.

"Who the hell said it was ok?!" Lina growled. "Besides, there's no way for _three_ people to fit in one futon!!"

"No problem." Kiyone hummed. "We can just use our robes as makeshift sheets."

"What the heck are you saying, moron! I won't – Ghe!! – Cut it out! Let go of that!"

"Kiyone, maybe we really shouldn't – Eeek!! – Stop it. Kiyoneeee."

"Come on, come on. There's no problem like this, right?"

"I HAVE A PROBLEM WITH IT!!"

As the voices inside continued their squabbling, Ukitake and Sentarou were frozen in place in front of the door. Finally they looked at each other for a few seconds, red-faced, before starting to walk back the way they came with hurried steps.

"On closer inspection, I guess we can tell Lina tomorrow that she's clear to go." Ukitake stated.

"R-roger that, captain."

* * *

Finished with kido-practice for the day, Lina was making her way through the streets of Soul Society, a giddy spring in her step at the prospect of visiting the living world.

Not only had Ukitake given permission, but she had also managed to wrestle out an advance-payment on her salary out of him so she was set in that department as well.

Humming a tune to herself, Lina quickly turned a corner only to run face first into a wall of flesh.

"Mhff?" she muffled from her buried position into someone's chest.

Craning her neck she looked up to find a somewhat familiar looking mug leering down at her.

"Well, well, what do we have here?" the man grinned.

"Now isn't this a coincidence?" a second man said as he came to a stop at Lina's right.

"Yeah, we were just looking for you." a third man said, coming up at Lina's left.

Lina backed out of the guy she'd run into and looked at the three burly shinigami hovering over her, all sporting the same nasty grin as they watched her slowly let her eyes trail back and forth between them.

"Soo…" she began quietly. "Who are you guys?"

"BITCH, DON'T MESS WITH US!!" they all exploded, their gloating expressions lost in an instant. Their outburst drew the attention of most of the people on the street, making them stop whatever they were doing and watch quietly from a distance.

The three men felt their hackles rise further as Lina grinned slyly.

"Yeah, yeah. You're the punks from the cafeteria, right? What do you want? Here to apologize for interrupting my meal?" she asked, her voice singsonging at the last sentence.

"Cocky little bitch." The brute on her left growled, his eyebrow twitching. The one on her right managed to compose himself though before talking snidely.

"We're been looking around for you, shrimp. You were lucky that we just happened to be unarmed last time since we were in the hospital. That's not the case now you know." He sneered as he made a show of reaching for his blade, the other two following suit.

"So now we intend to set the record straight," the guy right in front of her said as he pulled his blade and rested it on his shoulder. "However, if you got down on your knees and _Apologized,_" he said, mimicking Lina's singsonging of the word earlier, "we might just take it easy on you."

Twitching at the "shrimp"-comment, Lina looked at the men blankly before replying.

"You DO recall that I was unarmed as well, right?" she said flatly. Watching the men twitch, she assumed an exasperated air and partially turned away from them. "Can't we do this another time guys? I was kinda in a hurry here. Now shoo. Off with you." she sighed theatrically and once again waved them off disinterestedly. This of course set the twitching thugs right over the edge.

"Bitch, making lightly of us!!" they fumed, and roared as they charged her. The people watching saw Lina merely lift her hand and grin as she calmly said: "I told you I was in a hurry. _Hado 31: Shakkahou__._"

From a bird's-eye view of Soul Society, one could see a small, localised explosion take place in a street before drifting off as smoke.

Down on ground level again, two men in the condition "extra-crisp" were laying haphazardly on the street, the third one hanging over the rafters of a street wall, as the only property damage itself was a small crater in the ground.

Nodding at a job well done, Lina resumed her skipping down the street, ignoring the looks she was receiving from the shinigami around her who were carefully stepping forward to survey the onslaught.

* * *

In the living world a school day had drawn to a close. This of course meant that hordes of young children were running out the gates set on spending their just-achieved freedom in all kinds of ways. One child however didn't look all that enthused as she was slowly making her way out of the grounds. Frowning, her gaze slowly trailed left and right as if she was looking for someone. ..Or _something_.

"Karin-chan?" a voice sounded behind her. Karin didn't look back at the person.

"What is it, Yuzu? Something wrong?" Karin replied in a detached tone, eyes still searching.

"That's what I'd like to ask." Yuzu said as she walked up to her sister. "These last few days you've been so distracted when we're at school. Even now it's like you're trying to find something. Something you don't like." she said, her voice weak during the last sentence.

Karin finally decided to look at her sister, forcing a smile as she tried to shrug off her sisters inquires.

"Oh, it's nothing. It's just something about the air I don't like."

"Really?" she wasn't buying it.

"Really." Karin insisted.

Sighing, Yuzu figured Karin wouldn't share what had been on her mind lately, and when Karin didn't want to talk about something, Karin wouldn't talk about it.

Deciding to let it slide for now, Yuzu made pace with Karin as they started to stroll down the sidewalk, away from the school.

"It's kinda awful about Kyou-kun, don't you think?" Yuzu started. "I heard he broke his leg when he fell down the stairs yesterday."

Karin only nodded as she continued to face forward.

"And then there's Kai who broke his fingers when that window slammed down all of a sudden. And Monta who got hit in the shoulder by that falling flowerpot, though I guess he was lucky that it didn't hit his head."

Karin once again only nodded.

"And then there's Sousuke and Hiro and Yoshi, and even Yaga-sensei." Yuzu went on as she ticked the names off on her fingers. "There's been lots and lots of accidents the last few weeks, it's like there's a bad luck charm on our school or something."

Karin still said nothing, but Yuzu thought her frown had gotten deeper, ever so little.

They walked in silence for a few seconds before Karin suddenly came to a halt. Noticing this, Yuzu trailed to a stop a few feet ahead of her.

"What's wrong Karin?" she asked, noticing the odd look on Karin's face.

"…"

"Karin-chan?" she asked with more force.

"Eh, wha? Oh, I… I just remembered I forgot my bag back in the classroom. I'm gonna go get it. You don't have to wait for me so just go ahead. I'll see you at home." Karin pressed, not allowing Yuzu to get a word in before she turned on her heel and dashed back the way she had come.

Yuzu could only stand there in puzzlement as she let out weakly; "But your bag is on your back…"

* * *

Re-entering the school grounds, Karin made a beeline towards the side of the building, moving along until she reached the activity-fields behind the school.

Huffing to catch her breath a little, Karin suddenly called out towards the empty area.

"There! I finally got a lock on you!"

No sound was returned, but Karin remained determined.

"Just come out! I know you're there, you know!" she called. "You're right by that tree, I can tell!"

Silence ensued once again, but Karin's gaze never strayed. Finally, a small figure made its way out into the open, its body pale to the point of being transparent and with a small metal chain dangling from the chest area.

The small ghost, a girl that looked about Karin's age, glared at the accusatory frown Karin was giving her.

"It's been you, right?" Karin began. "You're the one who's been causing all those accidents."

The ghost didn't reply, but her glare deepened.

"And not only that, but I've noticed you've only been attacking guys." Karin went on as she saw no reply forthcoming. "Let me guess; you have some kind of grudge against boys, blaming them all for your death or something stupidly cliché like that?"

The ghost still didn't reply, but her glare was now livid.

"Figures, I thought as much." Karin groaned. "You almost seriously hurt someone a few of those times! Will you just quit it and be off already! You're a nuisance!"

"Shut-up!! What do you know!!" the ghost finally replied, her voice furious. "I'm not leaving before I make those boys pay for what they did!"

"Dumbass, think about it! I know for certain that you're not from any of the classes still attending this school! None of the guys here are the ones you knew from your time so knock it off already! They've got nothing to do with you!"

"Che, I don't care! It doesn't matter, they're boys still. I won't go anywhere before I make them all pay!" the ghost screamed vengefully before she turned on her heel and dashed off.

"Like hell I'm gonna let you do that!! Dang it, get back here!" Karin shouted as she ran after the fleeing spirit.

* * *

Coordination had never been an issue for Lina, but as she now stood in the real world in her first gigai she was having certain issues with it. Never before had she felt so restricted within her own skin.

"Is.. Is everything alright, Lina-san?"

Beside her, Isane Kotetsu stood in a gigai of her own, looking on with a raised eyebrow as Lina was swinging her arms around in a circular pattern.

"Y-yeah, I'm good." She grunted. "Well actually, not quite. It feels like my body's been pressed into a small box or something. I can't move nearly as freely as I can normally."

"Ah, that's quite normal, I'm afraid." Isane replied, looking a bit uncomfortable herself. "These faux-bodies that we use restrain us so we have no greater ability than that of a normal mortal. You get used to it. ..eventually." she said, twitching a bit uncomfortably as she tried to adjust to her gigai.

"Restrain us to that of a normal mortal… I see." Lina mused, grunting as she continued her exercises, hunched down and stretching her legs.

During her brief time in Soul Society, Lina had relished in the freedom of movement her body had. Actually, she relished in _any_kind of movement considering she had been trapped inside a crystal for an endless amount of millennia. Feeling how sluggish her movements were now, she could finally realize how different her spirit-body was from what her living body must've been back in the day.

Still, this was just too much though.

Lina was at least happy that she finally had an opportunity to wear something else than a shinigami-uniform. The two were at the moment naturally wearing clothes meant to let them blend in with the living without drawing attention. Or at least the kind of attention they would draw if they walked around in black robes.

Lina's attire consisted of an unbuttoned black jacket with a white/black-striped shirt underneath that showed off her midsection. Her pants were tight jeans with the top buttons unbuttoned and the whole attire was crowned with large blue tie hanging down over her exposed stomach.

Of course, her signature headband was present as well.

Isane was wearing dark green blouse with a bow on her chest and jagged edges that showed off her collarbones. Her attire was completed with a mid-length grey skirt.

All in all, the two were still quite eye-catching.

"Then?" Lina started as she stood back up and stretched her back. "When is this friend of yours supposed to show up?"

The two had entered the living world in an indiscreet lot behind some old buildings. According to Isane, one of her friends was currently stationed in the living world and had agreed to be their guide-for the-day. She had yet to show up though.

"Well, according to the message she sent, she should be here soon. ..in a minute or so." She trailed off weakly as she looked around.

Lina looked at the way Isane sent unsure glances here and there and sighed. "Hn, you said that five minutes ago. If she doesn't get her butt here soon, I'll…"

Lina didn't get to finish as – the moment she turned her head the other way – she collided into a wall of flesh for the second time that day. Or to be precise; a wall of flesh collided into her, burying her face into two giant lumps.

"GHMBL?!"

"_Sorry I'm Late--!"_Matsumoto Rangiku singsonged with a smile, apparently not noticing the girl whose face bounced off her chest so hard that she was tossed flat onto the ground.

The well-endowed redhead was wearing tight, white jeans, and a black tanktop with roses illustrated on it. All in all, her attire was one that highly emphasized her ludicrous figure, topped by a pair of sunglasses nested on her forehead.

Putting one arm behind her head in an embarrassed manner, Rangiku went on with a laugh. "Captain Hitsugaya got mad when I tried to ditch training so I had to sneak away while he was distracted. Ahahaha."

"Rangiku-san…" Isane sweatdropped.

"Hm?" She blinked. "What is it?"

Seeing Isane's look trail down, Rangiku followed suit, only to see a small redhead immediately grab the hem of her shirt and get in her face.

"You over-inflated cow!!" Lina snarled. "The hell are you doing, pummelling me down like _that_?! You trying to pick a fight?!"

"Ara, you must be Lina-chan, right?" Rangiku smiled, not paying heed to the other redhead's anger. "She's even _cuter_than you described her, Isane."

"Don't ignore me, dammit!! And don't talk about me like I'm not here!"

"Oh yeah, you brought enough money, right?" Rangiku went on, casually shrugging off Lina's grip (as well as her vocal and rather graphic rant). "We've got lots of stores to visit."

"Dammit… I oughta…" Lina growled, rolling up her jacket sleeve and cocking back her arm. Her punch fell short though as Isane quickly grabbed her under the shoulders from behind and lifted her in a restraining hold.

"Lots of stores? Ano, Rangiku-san? I just came to buy medicine…" she said, smiling uneasily as Lina flailed and screamed bloody murder in her arms while trying to get at the other redhead.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk." Rangiku clicked, waving her finger back and forth at her friend. "You visiting the living world is such an ultra rare occasion so there's no WAY I could let you go back to Soul Society without going on a shopping spree first!" she smiled, clapping her hands together.

"Eeeh? But Rangiku-saan—."

"No complaining. Alright, let's go shop 'til we drop!" Rangiku proclaimed, thrusting her fist enthusiastically into the air.

Glancing back and forth between the starry-eyed redhead and the rabid one in her arms, Isane's head dropped in a sigh.

Lina's incoherent growls trailed into the air from the back alley, prompting a dog nearby to howl.

* * *

"Eeeh? You're going through a special training program to become a seated officer?? I never heard of such a thing! Explain this to me, Isane!"

"wheeze … wheeze"

"Ara. What's wrong with you?"

"She's obviously running out of steam, Rangiku." 'Not that I can blame her though' Lina mentally added.

As they had set out, Rangiku's pace had been relentless, _literally_ dragging the other two along from store to store, forcing them to try on piles and piles of clothing in almost all of them.

Lina had actually managed to get in the flow of things, even going so far to say that she enjoyed herself as they browsed the various boutiques. Shopping was a privilege she had been long denied and she had even gone as far as heckling over the prizes of several products they bought just for the sheer enjoyment of it.

Obviously, her skills as a businesswoman was as powerful in the current age as they had been back then as Rangiku and Lina had left behind plenty a crying salesclerk while they themselves carried loaded bags and huge grins.

The woman had instantly taken to Lina as she had started to display her shopping-skills, and Lina had to admit that Rangiku was a fun person to hang out with as soon as you got over her being a bit of a… no, make that a _major_spaz.

Lina just had to make sure she carefully calmed herself whenever those _**colossal**_breast bounced into her face by chanting "At least she laughs normally. At least she laughs normally." through clenched teeth.

Isane however obviously wasn't used to the kind of pace the other two were setting, and was lagging behind them on the verge of exhaustion.

Finding themselves inside a supermarket at the moment, Isane made no small show of her current state as she plopped down on a bench, shoulders sagging heavily as the bags she was carrying were lowered to the floor.

"Rangiku-san… wheeze Lina-san… wheeze N-no more… I need to rest"

"Huuh?" Rangiku whined childishly as she stood next to her. "But we've hardly gotten started!"

"Y-you CAN'T be wheeze serious…"

Lina was silent for a few seconds before turning to Rangiku.

"Oh yeah. Rangiku-san?"

"Hmm? What is it Lina?"

"Shopping is good and all that, but what I'm really interested in is to go sightsee. Would you mind if I went around a bit on my own while you and Isane-san kept shopping?"

"Eh? Lina-san…" Isane let out weakly.

"Sure, sure, if that's what you want then we could do it like that. Was there anything special you wanted to see though?"

"Rangiku-san…? Lina-san…?" Isane went on, unheard.

"Well, Everything really! It's my first time visiting this place after all. But I wonder, where – and how - should I meet up with you guys later? This city is HUGE!"

"A-hah, you don't need to worry about that!" Rangiku stated, and then suddenly started violently rummaging through Isane's pockets, much to the embarrassment of the other woman.

"Eh?! Ah!! R-Rangiku-san! Stop that! What are you doing? No-! Iyaa!!"

"What the hell are you doing?" Lina deadpanned deeply, trying to ignore the attention they were attracting with one busty woman openly ransacking another.

"Just a sec, Lina. Ah, found it!" Rangiku exclaimed and pulled forth one of those small devices with a screen. "Here, you can take Isane's cell phone with you. That way you can just contact me and vice-versa when we're done."

"MOU!! If that's what you wanted you could've just ASKED!" Isane whined, blushing heavily as she tried to straighten back her clothes.

"Cell phone?" Lina repeated, looking at the device held up in front of her. It was the same gizmo she'd seen Sentarou use. "But I don't know how to operate that thing."

"No worries, no worries." Rangiku said, and walked up to Lina so that they could both see the display. "All you'll need to know is a few buttons. See here? This one shows you the numbers already stored, like this. Then just keep looking through the list until my name shows up – there it is, see?"

"Hn. Hn." Lina nodded.

"Then: Just use these to buttons to start and end a call. The green one here, and the red one here. And that's pretty much all you need to know." she grinned and placed the device in Lina's hands, patting her head in a manner that certainly would have annoyed her hadn't she been busy ogling the device.

Chuckling at the small girl's absorbed look, Rangiku turned to look at Isane before jerking in shock as she spotted something across the hall.

"Oh my God! That store is having a 50 percent off Sale!!" she squealed loudly. Before the other two had a chance to react, she had grabbed Isane by the wrist and stormed off, tossing a quick "See you later" over her shoulder to Lina. Isane, being pulled along like a rag doll, could do nothing but give Lina a pitiful look that begged for help. All she got however was Lina waving them off with a sweatdrop and an uneasy smile before a sea of people separated them from each others view.

* * *

Modern-day cities were nothing short of amazing was the thought that went through Lina's mind as she looked around. Earlier she had barely had time to take quick glances as Rangiku had forcibly pulled them from store to store, but now she could take her sweet time staring at the sights.

And boy did she ever stare.

The amazing constructions towering above her had her ogling them so much that not only had it given her a crick in the neck, but also almost gotten her run over by those vehicles ("cars", was it?) in the process. One driver had cussed her out something fierce for stumbling into the streets with her nose in the skies.

As it turned out though, Lina could cuss better (and louder), so the guy had eventually left her alone and droved off.

Still, after that little incident Lina made sure to pay more attention to what took place on ground level, at the very least to avoid having to pay for a new gigai.

Stoplights didn't take too much of thinking to figure out, the concept showed up now and then even in _her_ time, but if she could help it, Lina tried to go with a crowd whenever she had to cross a particularly busy street.

Waving at puppies in petstore windows and listening to musicians performing in the town square, Lina was your typical tourist drinking in the sights and the sounds left and right with rapture. So the air was a bit nasty some places, mostly due to those car-things she realised, but it was not enough to distract her from her fun for long.

A truly surreal experience for her though was when she passed a store window filled to the brim with small screens, all displaying abilities not unlike scrying-orbs sorcerers used back in her time. She had never seen so many gathered in one place though, there had to be dozens of them! The fact that this even had to be something created without the use of magic had her head spinning.

Still, she couldn't tear her eyes away from them just yet.

She remained rooted to the spot for several minutes, eyes wide as she tried to take in news casters, movies and anime simultaneously. It was only thanks to some kids standing next to her that she was able to discern what was fact and what was fiction out of the vivid imagery.

The moving drawings were pretty easy to classify though.

But wait, what was this? Something was pulling her out of her reverie.

"Sniff, sniff. Hmm, my Inverse-sense is tingling."

Waving goodbye to the kids, Lina moved down the sidewalk. Letting her nose guide her, she went a block or so before it told her to turn a corner and led her face to face with a small building that for some indiscernible reason screamed ambrosia to her.

She didn't know who or _what_ a "Burger King" was, but if the smell wafting from those doors were anything to go by she'd be happy to swear her allegiance to this kingdom any day!

The girl behind the counter squeaked as the front doors shot open and an orange blur suddenly appeared in her face. Taking a few seconds to blink, she noticed that it was actually a customer - was she… was she drooling?

"Um… Welcome to Burger King, dear customer." she greeted and did her little bow. "May I take you order?"

The redhead's glassy look definitely had her cold sweating a little.

"Is that the menu?" she asked and pointed to the posters hanging behind her.

"Why yes. Pick any of them you'd like."

"Then…; I'll take one of **that**, and one of **those**, and – what's this… extra bacon? Three of those!!"

"U-um, sure. Do you…"

"And one of that, another one of those, and for now I'll guess I'll settle wiiith… Four of that one there!"

"Um, just a sec. That'll be… One, two…" the girl ticked off nerveously. "Eleven burgers… W-will you and your companions have fries with that?"

"Companions? What companions? Those are all for _me_!"

"Eh?"

"By the way, what are fries?" Lina said, leaning over the desk, getting into the clerk's personal space. "Are they eatable?"

"Y-yes?" she gulped. This customer was really starting to act scary.

"_Then GIVE meeee_."

"Eeek!!"

* * *

Making her way into the little gathering area next to the burger joint, Lina could be seen carrying a large paper bag in her left arm - shopping bags hanging from the forearm - and brandishing a burger in her right hand.

Using her businesswoman-abilities earlier had definitely been a wise choice as it had left Lina with plenty of money to buy food with - but of course - that had been her intention all along.

Pulling the wrapper off the burger in her hand with her teeth, Lina took a deep whiff that had her mouth water like crazy and she hurriedly chomped down on the thing.

Thunder cracked and time stopped!

Oh yeah! Yeaah! This was ambrosia! This was the little slice of heaven she'd been looking for, she thought as she pulled back and looked at the thing with sparkling eyes. Whether she was unable to or didn't care to, Lina didn't repress a squeal of delight as her teethes once again sank into the juicy dish and tore greedily.

Stumbling forward in her ecstasy, Lina made her way towards a fountain in the middle of the area so she'd have a place to sit as she ate the rest of these yummies. She was unfortunately too lost in bliss to notice people around her abruptly being pushed and barrelled aside, their bags flying wildly in the process as a small, pale-skinned girl darted past them at full throttle.

Hence it should come as no surprise that when the girl pushed her way past Lina, she was taken completely flatfooted, her eyes widening in sheer horror as the paper bag with burgers flew out of her grip and sailed through the air towards the fountain.

"My hamburgers!! My Delicious yummies!! Nuoooo!!" she screamed and dashed ahead, tossing her arms forward in a desperate attempt to catch the bag.

Stretching her tiny body seemingly beyond its limits, Lina was able to catch the bag by a hair as she leaned over the fountain water, balancing on one leg next to the edge while the other leg stood straight out behind her, giving her the appearance of a seasoned ballerina.

Breathing a sigh of relief, she smiled in delight.

"Phew. SAFE!"

It was just a shame that right then a _Second_ girl dashed by, knocking into Lina's outstretched leg just lightly enough to upset her delicate balance.

A large splash followed.

"What was that just now?" someone said in confusion as the people who had been barrelled aside by the first girl made it to their feet.

"Something suddenly knocked me over."

"Me too."

"I didn't see anything though, and I felt like I was being pushed from the front."

"I definitely felt something shove me!"

"Iyaa! How creepy!"

As the various people voiced their confusion, no one noticed the girl with half her body submerged into the fountain - her lower body hunched over the edge - nor the fact that the water had suddenly begun to boil.

Two eyes flashed red under the water.

* * *

"Tch, darn it! A dead-end!" Karin growled as she caught her breath. She had been hot on the ghost's trail this whole time, but now the problem was that she went a path she couldn't follow as tall fences surrounded her on three sides.

Determined not let her target get out of her soul perception range, she was about to backtrack, only to freeze as a giant chill shot up her spine making her shudder violently and an ominous aura seemed to engulf the small backstreet.

Gulping, Karin slowly turned her head around to be met with the sight of a dripping wet girl displaying an angry aura unlike anything she could remember.

"Ke ke ke ke— I've got you now!" the girl grinned sinisterly and cracked her knuckles loudly as she started walking towards Karin. Seeing the deranged look in her eyes, Karin backed up towards the wall as the soaked girl closed in.

"H-hold on!" she tried nervously. "What is it? What do you want?"

"Don't try to act ignorant!!" Lina snarled and shot her hand out, hoisting Karin into the air by her collar. Dangling Karin in front of her face, Lina growled out; "You got some NERVE pushing me into a fountain! Even worse, you committed the heinous crime of ruining _my_ _food_!!" she bellowed and pushed a wet paper bag with soggy hamburgers into Karin's view.

As Karin blinked owlishly at the bag, Lina looked onto it with sorrow, tears apparent in her eyes as she whined in a pathetic voice. "Sniff My hamburgers… My sweet, delicious hamburgers…"

Instantly reverting back into angry-mode, Lina growled into Karin's face. "YOU! You'd better make amends for this, you hear me?! You and that other girl! Now, where is she?!"

As Lina started to glance around trying to spot the first perpetrator, Karin's eyebrows shot up.

"You… You could see her?" she asked breathlessly.

"Haaah?! What do you think I am, blind?! Of course I could see her! That little pale girl with a chain dangling from…her…chest." Lina replied, her voice trailing off at the end as understanding dawned on her.

A ghost! That first girl had been a blooming ghost!

Her eyes widening in realization, Lina could see Karin's eyes sink into a frown, her posture defiant even though she was dangling almost a foot off the ground.

"Who are you?" she demanded.

…..

Well shit.

END CHAPTER 6

* * *

PREVIEW:

Lina: Who does that ghost think she is?! No one ruins my meal and gets away with it!

Karin: You…! That form…! You're a…!

Lina: No complaining! We're going ghost-hunting! Wait, what's this?! I'll have to deal with a hollow too now?!

And without me knowing, someone was keeping a close eye on us. Who is…? Is that…?! NO WAY!! THAT person is still around?!

* * *

SHINIGAMI'S CUP. GOLDEN!

Lina eyebrows were climbing as she stood there observing the window filled with dozens of scrying-screens. The scenes she were spying in on ranged from ultra-violent battles to people who were trying to woo each other in the most absurd (and pathetic) fashions. And moving drawings? What's with this content and why were they displayed openly for everyone to view?

"Look, look! Ultra-guy is about to make his move!" Lina heard a young voice giggle next to her.

She peeked to the side and noticed a group of children were staring intently on one of the screens. Leaning over a little to look at that screen, she saw a guy in a weird-ass costume fight (if you could call those poor movements fighting) something that looked like a person in a crab-monster costume??

"Ha ha! Look at how ridiculous his poses are!" one of the kids laughed with tears in her eyes.

"Yeah, what the heck was the writers thinking?" another one added.

"You know that the director is a complete old-school loon." one kid stated in a snotty manner.

Lina looked on as this Ultra-whatever delivered a weak-ass punch, only to raise an eyebrow as the crab-thing reacted as if had just gotten bludgeoned by a mace.

As the children laughed, Lina chewed on what she had just heard. Writers? Directors? …..

"Of course! It's all just an act! A show made to entertain!" she stated, smacking a fist into her hand as it all dawned on her.

"Hmm? Did you say something, miss?" One of the kids said as they turned towards her.

"No, no, nothing at all." she laughed, trying to not cause any sort of suspicion. "Ultra-guy, huh? Nee, nee, do you know what this show is called?" she asked pointing onto a screen that was displaying an action-movie.

"Ah, that's Lionhearts 3!" the kids smiled. "The hero in it transforms into a lion to fight the bad guys. It's a really cool movie!"

'A "Movie" huh?' Lina thought, mentally archiving that word. "Then, what about this one? Whoa, look at those explosion! Haha, look! The people are being blown to pieces!" Lina laughed. "Nee, What's this one called?"

The kids looked at each other a little hesitant before one softly said "That's the News program…"

Awkward silence ensued.

"Th-then, what about this one?" Lina finally said and pointed to another one. The kids regained their enthusiasm and told her all kinds of things about the various shows.

* * *

**Author's notes:**

Sheesh, this chapter become a monster despite me trying to cut it in half. This is easily the biggest one I'VE written yet at least.

Lina's attire is based on a series of Slayers Next images, displaying the cast in modern day clothes and city. Isane and Rangiku's clothes came from the end of the Sealed Sword Frenzy OVA.

Please review if you find the time to let me know how I'm doing. After all, this is a pretty weird concept.


	7. Chapter 7

**Bleached Slayer **

Chapter 7

"Aww, where did big brother disappear to all off a sudden?" Kurosaki Yuzu whined as she was cooking dinner. "It's not like him to just disappear like that."

Unknown to her, the plush-lion propped up on a chair in the kitchen snorted.

"On top of that, now it looks like Karin won't be coming home for dinner today." she continued. "Dinner is going to be so lonely!"

"Aw, do not worry, Yuzu!! Daddy will make sure to create enough life at the table for everyone!!" Kurosaki Isshin, Yuzu's father, boasted as he literally bounced into the kitchen. "Now, dry up all your tears in your father's manly, high-absorptive chest-hairs!!" he called and leaped forward to embrace his daughter.

Unfortunately for him, Yuzu had moved towards doorway, calling up to the person on the 2nd floor. As she did, her father rolled around in the kitchen in agony after hitting the hot cooking plates.

"Rukia-chaaaan! Dinner's ready!"

"Ah – Be right there!" Rukia called back from above.

Kuchiki Rukia, the newly established 3rd "daughter" of the Kurosaki-household was currently sitting on the bed of her missing partner, Kurosaki Ichigo, in a meditating position. This is where she had stayed the last hours trying to trace said carrot-top's reiatsu, but with no such luck.

'Ichigo… Did the loss against Grimmjaw really get to you so much that you had to run off on your own to get stronger?' she thought solemnly. 'And if it did, where in the world did you go?'

And while she hadn't been able to even sense a sliver of Ichigo's reiatsu, a different, erratic reiatsu she had never felt before appeared to be roaming in the town.

While she was fairly certain it was a shinigami, and therefore not a threat, the way it had pulsed up and down uncontrollably, sometimes to worrying heights, had left her slightly concerned.

Right now it seemed to be at ease though, and… giddy?

"Rukia-chaaaan!" Yuzu called once again from below.

"Yeah, I'm coming!" Rukia answered and exited the room, shutting the door behind her.

* * *

"The lady behind the counter seemed kinda freaked out when we came in. What was with that?"

"Mhe, pay it no heed." Lina waved off as she sat down at a table, a tray filled to the brim with hamburgers clacking down in front of her. "She's probably stressed out by working overtime or something like that."

Lina took time to drool a little before grabbing two burgers at once and greedily dug in, almost devouring the wrappings in the process. Sitting across from her with her head supported in her hand, Karin just gave a half-lidded, incredulous stare before looking away with a snort.

The older girl had demanded compensation for her ruined food before answering any questions so here they were at a Burger King stall, watching Lina gorge herself on Karin's bill.

Did she have to constantly make those little squeals of delight though? It was making people stare.

"Well?" Karin began, annoyed. "Just who are you, lady?"

"(*Munch, munch*) Isn't it custom to give your own name before (*munch*) asking others?"

Karin twitched as she turned back her head to face Lina. "Kurosaki. It's Kurosaki Karin. NOW will you tell me?" she gritted out.

Lina in turn grinned at her.

"Lina. I'm Lina Inverse." She took another bite. "I'm from… (*munch, munch*) I'm from out of town. Ooh yum, that hits the spot!"

"And just how far out of town is that?" Karin frowned. "You don't exactly look Japanese."

"You're a direct one, aren't you?" Lina said, momentarily putting down the burger she was working on. "You know, there are more tactful ways to point stuff like that out."

"I don't feel like catering to suspicious people."

"Ohh? Because I'm a foreigner I'm "suspicious" to you?" Lina's eyes narrowed.

"No, moron. You're suspicious because you can see ghosts!" Karin groaned, banging her fist on the table.

"Ah." Lina blinked. "That's different then." she shrugged.

"Don't go off in a direction like that, sheesh! Look, could you please tell me where you're from then?"

Lina opened her mouth to speak, froze for a few seconds then took another bite out of her burger. After she chewed a little she opened her mouth to speak, froze again and took another bite instead. This procedure repeated itself a few times, causing Karin's eyebrow to twitch more and more violently for each repeated cycle.

"Will you answer already?!" Karin growled, finally losing her patience.

"(*chew, chew*) It wouldn't be polite to talk with food in my mouth." Lina replied in-between bites.

"Then stop taking new bites already!!"

"Fine, fine." She put the food down again. "I was born and raised in Zephilia. I came here to this area a little while ago because I was offered a high-rank job-position." Lina casually replied.

Inside she was coldsweating though. 'So far, none of that is a lie.' she thought.

"Zephilia?" Karin blinked. "I've never heard of it or seen it on any map."

"Well, it's a bit ways off. Your maps probably don't have my country pinpointed because of that."

"Huh? Quit joking around. Every country in the world is mapped out. There's no way they would've just _missed_ one."

"Really?? The entire world?" Lina blinked in astonishment before catching her slip. "W-well of course, but do _you_ have every land, country or island committed to YOUR memory?"

"Well, not exactly…"

"Then there you have it!! Besides, chances are my country is called something else in Japanese." Lina stated, crossing her arms and nodding to herself for being able to row her story onto land.

Karin, seemingly accepting that excuse, brought up the next issue.

"Language then? Your Japanese is really good. There's no noticeable accent."

"Language?" Lina blinked owlishly. "Language, you say…"

Lina sat there muttering over it, tilting her head back and forth.

Come to think of it, why DID she have that language down pat when the writing was obviously different from the runes used in her era.

"Editorial liberties perhaps…'' she mused.

"Pardon?"

"No, no, nothing at all. Let's not sweat the small stuff. It probably isn't relevant to the story anyway…" Lina amended, muttering that last part to herself.

Leaning forward, Lina pointed at the smaller girl. "Now, don't you think it's high time YOU answered some question? What's with that ghost earlier and why were you chasing her?"

"Hmph, seeing as I treated you to those burgers, I don't think I have to offer any more from my end." Karin snorted.

"O-ho, is that so?" Lina asked with a dangerous glint in her eyes. "Even though you pumped me for information while you were the one who ruined my other batch; You say we're even?"

"Exactly! We're even!" Karin persisted. "…hm, wait. What are you doing?"

Lina had abruptly stood up at the table and cupped her hands to her mouth.

"Everyone, hello! May I have your attention, please!" She called with her best stagevoice, gathering the attention of the other customers.

"May I present a glorious wonder of mankind! This young lady here claims that she is able to see ghost - yes that's right ladies and gentlemen – _see_ ghosts! Her name is KU – RO – SA – _MBLHH!!_"

The people could only blink at the display as the red-haired girl's oddball speech was cut short when the smaller girl at the table suddenly freaked and jumped onto the speakers back, covering her mouth forcibly with her arms.

The redhead staggered a bit from the extra weight, mumbling but unable to get forth a comprehensible word.

"Ok! OK! You've made your point!" Karin hissed into Lina's ear. "I'll tell you, but not in here, ok?!"

"Ok." Lina mumbled from underneath Karin's death-grip. "Just let me finish my burgers and treat me to some ice cream and we'll leave."

"Ice cream?? You didn't have anything like that earlier! Why do _I_ have to pay for it?!" Karin hissed.

Lina just glanced smugly over her shoulder, meeting Karin's eyes as she mumbled.

"I know. The ice cream is payment for making my clothes wet."

Karin gritted her teeth and growled. "Why you…"

* * *

Back at Karin's school, an ominous shadow was cast from the roof, blanketing the area where Karin had first confronted the ghost.

"Gerooo!"

Landing onto the ground on all fours, a huge hollow with the appearance of a frog with a bull's horns started to sniff around, circling the tree the ghost had been hiding near. It then looked up in the direction she had left the school grounds.

Letting its massive tongue roll out as it started to drool, the "bullfrog" leaped through the air, following the juicy trail.

"Geroooooooo!!"

* * *

"I… (wheeze) ..finally got to buy my… (wheeze) ..medicine." Koutetsu Isane sighed, breathing heavily as she was slumped forward in her seat and clutching a small pharmacist-paperbag victoriously.

Propped up against her chair was a pile of bags filled with items she had had no intention of buying earlier that day.

The lilac-haired woman and her redheaded (and ridiculously busty) friend, Matsumoto Rangiku, had just entered a small restaurant for a light meal, having chosen a table next to one of the large windows facing the busy street outside.

The redhead was humming to herself as she leafed through the menu, completely unfazed by her companion's exhausted state.

"Say, Isane." Rangiku began. "What would you like to order?"

"A pillow would be nice. Do they have that?"

"Oh lighten up, Isane. We still got a lot of places to visit so hurry up and eat, ok? Replenish your strength a little." Rangiku said, not looking up from her menu in the process.

Isane groaned from her position and then pushed herself up so she could lean back in her chair.

"You know, we should probably call Lina. From what I've heard from Kiyone and Captain Unohana she seems like someone who would be offended if we ate a meal without her." Isane mused.

"Yes, yes, speaking about Lina." Rangiku cut in, putting down her menu. "Tell me about her. A rookie who comes out of nowhere and instantly receives special training to become a seated officer is not something that happens every day. To be honest, I've never even _heard_ of such a procedure. There must be some special reason behind this, right? Right?" Rangiku pressed excitedly, leaning over the table with a smile.

Isane blinked nonplussed before regaining her composure. She wasn't surprised that Rangiku would try to dig for info on any newcomers – it's what she did best really – but Lina was indeed a special case.

"To tell you the truth, I don't know really." she shrugged. "She just appeared one day and was immediately placed under intensive care in the 4th Division."

"Oh my. What ailed her?"

"Coma induced by extreme fatigue. Her reiatsu-levels were dangerously low. It's a wonder she wasn't dead really." Isane answered, a little concern entering her voice. "It probably didn't help her condition that when Captain Zaraki came in carrying her, he just dropped her onto the floor." she sighed.

At this Rangiku started.

"Zaraki brought her in?? Wasn't he – Aah! - Are you telling me that Lina has a connection with the "top-secret mission"…", Rangiku exclaimed, making quotation-marks in the air, "..that he and the other two captains went out on?! Captain Hitsugaya wouldn't tell me about that thing at all!" she said, pouting at that last part.

"That's a possibility." Isane mused, tapping her lip with a finger. "There are no prior records of her in Soul Society, but her treatment was placed as such a high priority that the Captain assigned me to be her fulltime personal nurse. When I tried to ask why she was so important though, the captain asked me not to think about it too much."

"That IS unusual." Rangiku stated and assumed a pondering look. There were just _too_ many special perks Lina received for her to just be a "random prospect" the captains had happened to stumble across. She _HAD _to have been connected to the mission-objective in some way or another.

Rangiku was brought out of her thoughts as Isane went on.

"She's an interesting person though. Looking at her now it is hard to compare her to the patient that lay unmoving for weeks. She's quite spirited and Kiyone has really taken to her." Isane smiled. "And her appetite is something else. Both Captain Unohana and Kiyone have commented on her eating enough to feed an entire division in one sitting. There have actually been food-shortages in the 13th Division thanks to her, making it necessary for them to beg for the leftovers of other divisions sometimes." she laughed.

"You're kidding!" Rangiku exclaimed, and at Isane's shake of the head fell back in her chair laughing loudly.

If the two had been looking out the window and towards the busy sidewalk across the street, they would've been treated to the sight of Lina walking along with a younger girl.

Lina suddenly froze and appeared to sneeze violently, causing the black-haired girl to stop and look at her while Lina wiped her nose and suddenly started to look around aggressively as if trying to spot whoever that was currently talking about her.

Finding no one, she eventually shrugged and the two girls continued onwards.

"She seems like a good kid, really." Rangiku said, finally managing to get her mirth under control. "She has an impressive backbone as well for someone so tiny. Reminds me a bit of the captain really."

The mental comparison of Lina with the short, white-haired Captain Hitsugaya caused her cheeks to puff out as she tried not to laugh.

"Or even Rukia-san." Isane added. "They both have that Queen-of-the-hill feel to them, like they won't let themselves be pushed around no matter what."

"Well, yeah - but remember Isane, that Rukia only became like that recently. She was always so subdued before, really, but after she met Ichigo she seems like she's unstoppable!" Rangiku smiled and Isane recognised the glint in her eyes for what it was. "Speaking of Ichigo, you should've seen his face when we… GASP!!!!"

Isane got worried as Rangiku suddenly trailed off and jerked upright, her face ghostly white and her gaze fixated out the window.

She suddenly turned flat on her heel and made a beeline towards the exit of the restaurant, not even caring that she violently kicked over her shopping bags as she went.

"Ah, Rangiku-san!!" Isane exclaimed as she got up herself and hurriedly scooped up all their belongings before following her friend out the door, apologizing meekly to whoever she bumped into on her way with her load.

When she finally caught up with her outside, Rangiku stood there rigid, breathing heavily as she looked after the crowds of people disappearing down the road.

Falling onto her bum with all the bags next to where her friend stood, Isane looked up at her worried.

"Rangiku-san, what's wrong?"

Rangiku breathed deeply a few times before she answered, not even looking back at her as she did so.

"I… I think I just saw Gin." she breathed.

"G-Gin?!" Isane exclaimed. "As in Ichimaru Gin?!"

At Rangiku's weak nod, Isane broke into a cold sweat.

Ichimaru Gin. The former captain of the 3rd Division and one of the two captains that betrayed Soul Society and left together with Aizen. Just the thought of the silver-haired man with the permanent smiley-face was enough to send shivers down Isane's back.

And to think that THAT man had been Rangiku's childhood friend…

"Where did he… I mean, how did you… Are you sure it was him?" Isane spluttered.

Rangiku seemed to finally shake herself out of her stupor and turned to look at her.

"Yes. I mean, no. I mean, I don't know…!" she sighed, trying to get control of herself. "It was just for a split-second, but I'm certain I saw Gin walking down the sidewalk across the street. I… " she took another deep breath. "I don't think it was actually him now that I think about it, but…" she trailed off.

"But you need to make sure, right?" Isane said, standing up. At her friend's weak but grateful nod, Isane pulled out a candy-dispenser and popped a candy into her mouth.

Seconds later the two shinigami-women where free of their faux bodies and were running across the rooftops, going in the direction Rangiku had seen Gin - or the person that LOOKED like Gin - go.

As they hastily made their way onwards, Rangiku desperately tried to convince herself that it _couldn't_ have been the real Gin and that her eyes simply had been playing tricks on her. Or rather, that it was just someone who just gave of the same AURA as Gin did, however creepy that prospect might be.

After all, why would Ichimaru Gin walk around carrying a wooden staff anyway?

* * *

At a bus-stop further down town, two girls made their way out of a bus, one shakily as the other looked on flatly.

"Sheesh, have you never ridden a bus before?" Karin groaned, raising an eyebrow at the older girl's disheveled state.

"C-country girl, remember?" Lina amended, leaning heavily on a mailbox as the bus drove off behind them, her shopping-bags dangling from her arm.

To be honest, at the beginning the bus-ride had been a fun new experience for Lina, but that was before the motion sickness had set in. Also, when Karin had suddenly declared they had gone far enough as she simultaneously made to press the red button labeled "stop", Lina had panicked over the fact that she wasn't "prepared" yet and lounged towards a metal pole next to her seat in order to brace herself.

Obviously the bus hadn't screeched to an _immediate_ stop as Lina figured it would, but the sudden fear that struck her that moment had still gotten to her.

Karin stared silently as Lina finally got her self under control, growing more and more skeptical to the story of the older girl.

"You didn't have to come along, you know." Karin stated flatly. "I'm capable of dealing with this by myself."

"Oh, no you don't." Lina huffed. "I'm just as interested as you are in getting hold of that ghost. Ruining my food like that…" she muttered.

"Then get a grip already." she groaned, mostly at how the older girl was involved simply because she held a grudge. "I don't know how long I'll be able to keep track of the ghost's movements like this."

"Yeah, ok…" Lina said, standing up fully. "Let's go."

"I-chi-goooo!!" someone suddenly exclaimed from behind the two girls.

Driven by sheer reflex, both Lina and Karin instantly responded by turning around performing high kicks, nailing a high-school boy who had been lunging for them harshly in the face.

"Huh/Ah?" the two girls sweatdropped simultaneously as their minds finally caught up with their reflexes. The laws of physics finally caught up with the boy and he was propelled backwards by the twin kicks, kissing the sidewalk painfully.

"Khuu, you're so mean, Ichigooo!" the brown-haired highschooler whined pathetically as he clutched his bleeding nose. "You've been gone for _days_ without even a single word in warning, and now this?! Are we not your friends, Ichi-goooo-Urk?!" he accused and made to lunge forward once more before he was suddenly stepped on by another highschool boy, this one with dark hair and a childlike face.

"Wipe your eyes, Asano-san. You're crying so hard that you can't even tell that you have the wrong person." he said nonchalantly, acting as if stepping on the other boy was a completely casual thing to do.

The first highschooler, Asano Keigo, finally looked up and focused on the two people in front of him. Obviously, Ichigo's classmate had only glimpsed them for a split-second before he jumped to conclusions. While the short figure was indeed Ichigo's little sister, the redhead next to her was not the orange-haired boy he had expected to be there, but a girl.

An exotic girl - petite and leggy in the same way Kuchiki Rukia was.

……

"Oh, it's you guys." Karin said softly as she and Lina lowered their kicking-feet. "What do you want?"

Lina only stood there silently as Karin apparently knew the two newcomers. The dark-haired boy came forward, making sure to step once more on the brown-haired boy on the ground as he approached Karin.

"Well, it's been nearly a week already since Ichigo vanished, and 'this thing' and I was wondering if you had heard anything new." The dark-haired boy, KojimaMizuiro, inquired, at saying 'this thing' pointed disinterestedly over his shoulder at Ichigo's other classmate.

"Nah. Ichi-nii hasn't given us a peep either. He's probably just off messing around somewhere." Karin replied, hands in her pockets as she tried to seem uncaring. Her tone of voice was a bit strained however.

"I see…" Mizuiro sighed. "Well, please tell him to contact us when he shows, okay?" he said softly and turned to where his "friend" was supposed to be, only to find him gone. "Let's go, Asano-san. Hm? Asano-san?"

"Well, hello there, beautiful." A voice suddenly said into Lina's left ear.

"Eek!"

Jumping into the air with a squeak, Lina whirled around to see the brown-haired highschooler ogling her, failing tremendously at trying to look suave.

"My, I haven't seen you around these parts before, my lady." Keigo said with an odd voice as he brushed an imaginary strand of hair off his forehead. "I am Asano Keigo. Would you kindly tell me your name?"

"L-Lina. Lina Inverse." She answered unsurely, a bewildered blush on her cheeks.

"Aah, Lina, is it?" Keigo exclaimed as he swayed with overdramatic movements that were no doubt copied from some cheesy soap opera. "What an exotic name, truly fitting a girl such as yourself. Lina-chan, allow me to kiss your hand." Keigo said in the same tv-inspired voice and grabbed her hand to do just so.

Lina, standing rigid, quivered nervously as the guy lowered his head towards her hand. As he came to only a few inches from it, Lina finally had enough - and with a yell - forcibly pulled back her hand, managing to nail Keigo with a fist to the face in the process.

Karin and Mizuiro, who had been watching the whole thing with dead-pan expressions, sweatdropped as Keigo once again kissed the sidewalk.

"Enough of this already. Let's go, Lina!" Karin groaned and grabbed Lina's hand, pulling the jittery girl along as they left.

Mizuiro waved the two off before calmly walking over to where Keigo had face-planted onto the ground, squatting down next to him.

"I'm impressed." He said casually. "That's about the farthest I have ever seen you gotten."

"Go die…" Keigo groaned at him down from the concrete.

* * *

Well that was weird." Karin said, looking up at the older girl she was running next to. "Are weirdoes like that guy your type or something?"

"Hell no!" Lina exclaimed, still red in the face from earlier. "I-I'm just not used to that kind of attention." she huffed, bitter over the fact that it was true: Most men she'd met back in the day would rather poke fun of her diminutive stature than to come on to her, so romantic attention was indeed something she was unaccustomed to.

Shuddering to shake of the remnants of the uncomfortable feeling, Lina suddenly turned towards Karin.

"Hey."

"What?" Karin answered without turning as they ran.

"About what those guys said… Is your brother missing or something?"

"……"

"Karin."

"It's not like that." Karin finally said. "Look, it's complicated. I don't want to talk about it."

"Well, if you say so." Lina said, letting it slide.

It wasn't much she could do about something like that anyway.

"…… Are we getting closer?" Lina asked, changing topic.

"Yeah. I feel her presence just up ahead. We're lucky. She must've stayed at the same location for a while."

"Indeed." Lina agreed as they ran. "Let's ambush her then. I will make her regret ever messing with the food of Lina Inverse! Moa-ha-ha-haaa!"

Karin only sweatdropped.

* * *

When they eventually found the ghost, what greeted them was a pretty heart-wrenching scene. It was on a deserted playground, the ghost kicking her feet forlornly as she sat there alone on the swing set. The whole scenario, coupled with the girl's somber expression painted the image of someone who was abandoned and alone.

"Kinda makes it hard to be angry, doesn't it?" Karin stated as she and Lina were leaning to peak around the fence they were hiding behind.

"No kidding."

"Well, we've found her. Now what?"

"What do you mean, "now what"?! Weren't you the one chasing her initially?!" Lina hissed.

"Well, yeah – but…"

"No buts about it! Hadn't you thought of anything?!"

"The only thing I intended to do was try and make her stop harassing the boys at my school." Karin growled, then sighed. "Darn it, where are those lousy shinigami when you actually need them?" she scoffed.

"_Giku!_" Lina jerked. "Shi-shinigami, you say?" she asked cautiously.

Dammit, weren't their existence supposed to be a secret? The guys at Soul Society had certainly stressed that very issue with her.

"Yeah, if you can see ghost then you have probably seen them as well. They carry swords and wear black robes. Ichi-nii is…" she began, but suddenly clamped her mouth shut.

"Hm? What was that?" Lina said, going from sweating bullets to prying.

"Nothing! It was nothing, really."

"Sure it was, you said "Ichi-nii". Don't tell me your brother is able to see ghosts too?"

"No! Well, yes, but that isn't the issue here!"

"Listen, Karin…!"

"No, _you_ listen!"

"Who's there?!"

"_GIKU!!_" they both jerked as a third voice cut in.

Looking up, they could see that the ghost had stood up from the swing and was now watching them warily.

"You!" she growled as she recognized Karin. "Would you just leave me alone already!"

"I'll leave you alone when you stop terrorizing my school!" Karin shot back as she stood forward. "If you think I'll let you just run rampant as you please, you've got another thing coming!"

"Why do you try to protect them?! They are boys!"

"Because I don't have the kind of ludicrous bias you have with them!"

"Now, now, calm down both of you." Lina said, surprisingly trying to be the one acting as the adult in an argument. "I'm certain there are reasons behind this, so if we just talked…"

"Aahh! You even brought one with you!"

"Hueh??" Lina blinked owlishly.

"I knew it! You're siding with the boys after all!" the ghost accused, pointing at Karin. "You're probably just as bad as them!"

"Now hold on…" Lina began dangerously.

"You just don't get it, do you?" Karin shouted. "I'm not siding with anyone! You are the one that's simply messed up!"

"Shut up! It doesn't matter how old or skinny they are; All boys are evil!"

"**Who the hell are you calling a boy?!**" Lina snarled and lunged forward towards the ghost.

The ghost faded out of view just before she reached it, leaving Lina kissing dirt.

"Ghu!! Why you little!!" she growled, spitting out rocks. "Where did she go?!"

"Over there!" Karin pointed.

The ghost was now standing at the opposite end of the playground, sending them a last glare over her shoulder before she ran off.

"Hold it right there!!" Lina screamed, kicking up gravel as she franticly stumbled to her feet and took off, Karin leading the way.

The two girls were in hot pursuit, snaking their way through tight backalleys while jumping over trashcans and other debrief the ghost had kicked over.

Reaching the other side of the buildings, Karin came out on a road going downhill, high concrete walls with trees and vegetations visible on top of them flanking the road.

"Hurry up, we're loosing her!" Karin yelled as she charged down the path.

Lina exited the alley seconds later, half-tripping over a trashcan which she then kicked away in frustration and charged down the slope with an angry roar.

"That brat!!" she snarled as she caught up with Karin. "How dare she mistake _me_ for a BOY?! That's it! No Mercy!"

Running along side her, Karin finally said: "You know… That ghost seems to date from a couple of decades back. Assuming she isn't accustomed with modern style of dress; changes are she figured you were a guy just because you're wearing jeans."

"!! Ah – Oh!! I see! So _That's_ what it was…" Lina exclaimed, intrigued.

For once, a mistake was made for reasons she didn't have to find personally offensive.

"…. _And_ because you have small breasts."

"DAMMIT!!" Lina shouted, half-tripping as her bubble burst.

At the end of the slope, the road they ran down on joined a bigger street with a railing trailing its outer edge. Outside the railing the ground became a steep hill, leaving the structures of the city ahead of them to continue on a lower ground level.

The problem was however that the ghost had kept going straight.

"Darn it!" Karin complained as she reached the road railing. "We'll never catch up with her now!"

"If we follow the road there should be a path leading down somewhere." Lina offered, standing with her arms on her knees as she was breathing heavily.

'Dammit! This gigai's limitations are so annoying right now.' she thought.

"No, it won't work. I can tell where we are now and from here it will take at least twenty minutes to get down there. She has effectively given us the slip." Karin muttered resigned as she looked at the districts below.

Karin's eyes suddenly shot up as she sensed something in the vicinity.

Turning around, her gaze shot up the white concrete wall on the inner side of the road, towards the trees at the top.

"… What's wrong?" Lina asked as she noticed Karin's rigid posture.

"Darn it! Now of all times!" Karin hissed.

"Gerooooo!!" something roared from above.

"Huh?! What the?!"

Lina looked up just in time to see a big frog-like hollow leap up from the woods above. It sailed through the air, easily clearing the street the girls were on, and disappeared down the hill, dead-set in the direction the ghost had headed.

Karin immediately shot into a run, following the road.

"Ah, Karin! Hold up!" Lina gasped as she stumbled after, struggling to keep up.

"No time! That hollow is going after that girl!" Karin yelled, not looking back.

"But I thought you said this path would take at least twenty minutes?!"

"I know!" Karin snapped with frustration in her voice. "But I can't just do nothing!"

"Karin…"

Seeing Karin's features set into a mix of determination and desperation, Lina caught hold of her second wind and straightened up.

Reaching into her pocket as she ran, Lina fished out the cell phone she had been given earlier by Isane and Rangiku.

'Come on. Hopefully those two, or someone they know, are close enough to help out here. Lesse… I was supposed to push this button, right?' she thought, her tongue sticking out the side of her mouth in concentration as she pressed the device.

Nothing happened.

'What the?! Why isn't this infernal thing working?!' she lamented, pressing the buttons again and again to get no reaction from it.

"Arrgh!! Useless piece of junk!!" Karin heard from behind her.

She skidded to a halt as she saw Lina had stopped running and was instead fishing around in her jacket.

"What are you playing around at?! We have to hurry!"

"Screw their orders." Lina said to herself, ignoring Karin's question as she pulled a candy-dispenser out of her jacket. "There's no way I can get in trouble for doing this when you already know as much as you do."

"Do what? What are you talking abou…!" Karin began, but got cut off as Lina popped a candy into her mouth and swallowed.

Lina was then enveloped in light for a split second, and a second Lina dressed in black robes and a yellow top popped out of her body.

Karin's eyes shot up.

"Just like Ichi-nii…" she breathed.

The black-robed Lina stretched out, relishing being free from the constricting gigai.

"Nnnnh, oh yeah! That feels niceeee!"

"Lina…! You're a shinigami?!"

"No time for that now!" Lina said and picked Karin up, easily placing her onto her back. "I can't sense stuff as well as you do so just point me in the right direction, got it?"

"O-Ok." Karin nodded, still stumped by this revelation.

"Hey, you!" Lina barked, turning towards her gigai. "Just stay here and look after my bags until I get back, alright?"

The faux body was looking back at her with an emotionless gaze that looked totally out of place on Lina's features.

"I…" she finally began in a monotone voice. "..am not your doll."

"Eh??" Lina exclaimed, stumped. "Oi, what's wrong?"

Odd. It wasn't supposed to act like this.

"I… I think I am the third." Pseudo Lina mused to herself, once again in complete monotone.

"Haaah??" both Lina and Karin let out this time.

"Hey, what's wrong with her?" Karin whispered from over Lina's shoulder.

"Dunno. It's an artificial soul supposed to look after my body obediently, but I must've gotten a defect one." Lina mused. "Ghah, no time for that! Let's go!!"

"Whoa!!" Karin exclaimed as they all of a sudden went sailing through the air, Lina carrying her as they jumped down the hill.

Pseudo Lina watched them leave disinterestedly, caught up in her own nonsensical monologue as she stood there on the side of the road alone.

"I hate myself. But I might be able to love myself. I might be allowed to stay here. Yes. I am nothing but I. I can be I. I wish to be I. I want to stay here. I can stay here!"

……

"Aho! Ahou!" a crow cawed above.

* * *

It hurt. Her leg felt like it was on fire, but she couldn't stop running. Not now.

The little ghost dived forward just in time to avoid the monster's swipe of the claw, gravel and dirt exploding into the air as the ground was viciously torn apart in her place.

Cradling her head as she lay on the ground to protect herself from the falling rocks and dirt, the ghost looked behind her. Even though shrouded in smoke, the colossal figure could be seen turning itself towards her current position, its eyes flashing through the smoke.

Getting her feet under her, she ran onwards, the chain on her chest clanging and her tears flowing freely as she heard the telltale sounds of the froglike creature leaping after her.

"Please… Somebody…" she sobbed before once again narrowly avoiding being sliced apart by a descending claw.

Rolling with the momentum, she entered a narrow alley between two solid brick buildings, knocking over a few trash cans as she came to a halt. The hollow was quicker on the rebound this time and pounced at her. The girl shielded herself with her arms in vain and closed her eyes.

But the impact never came.

Opening her eyes gingerly, she could see that the hollow was too big to slip into the small space between the buildings, huffing and puffing as it tried to reach in after her just to come short by a few measly inches. Seeing this, the girl used her arms to back away, crawling backwards along the ground as her eyes never left the thing.

Her relief was short-lived though as the hollow propped itself in front of the entrance and shot its tongue out, managing to snag her leg like a frog would a fly and began to pull her towards it.

"Aah… NO!! Let GO!!"

Trying desperately to get loose, the girl picked up the lid of one of the trashcans and harshly swung the end down on the tongue, cutting through the flesh.

As the thing roared in agony, the ghost got to her feet and ran deeper into the dark alley, her breath hitching as fear and exhaustion clouded her.

"No more… I don't want this… Mommy! Daddy! Anyone! Help me! Please… Someone…" she sobbed, wiping her tears with her forearm.

Light growing around her, she found herself exiting the alley and arriving onto an empty construction site, the iron frames and support-beams mostly bare as the building had yet to be finished.

Looking around unsurely, the girl deciding to run into the building and take refuge amongst the various materials piled around, hiding herself from view.

She never got that far however.

"Oh my... Little girl, are you lost?"

Skidding to a halt, the girl looked around confused. Was someone actually addressing her?

She then noticed someone inside, standing amongst the stables of iron beams. A man wearing a dark purple tuxedo with a blue tie as well as a dark overcoat hanging from his shoulders like a cape, and he was smiling directly at her.

Not sure what to do, the girl stood there unmoving. After a few seconds of silent staring, the man walked up towards her.

"Are you quite alright, little one?" he asked.

"You… You can see me?" the ghost breathed.

"But of course." he smiled friendly. "Shouldn't I be able to?"

Realization dawned on her.

"Please, you've gotta help me! A-a monster – A giant frog with a skeleton-mask is chasing me! Please… I don't want to be eaten…!" she babbled, latching onto the man, crying.

"Aww, there there. Don't worry." he said as he stroked her hair reassuringly. "I'll make sure you won't get eaten."

"You promise?" she sniffed, looking up at him.

"Indeed. I guarantee it."

……

*CLATTER!!*

The girl gaped in mute shock as she found herself thrust into the air, a wooden staff stabbing into her chest were her chain had been attached.

Landing harshly on the ground, she started to spasm, clawing at her chest as a hole started to grow. Gasping for air through the unimaginable pain, she could see out of the corner of her eye that the man lowered himself onto his knee, the staff supporting him as he leaned over and resumed stroking her hair with his free hand.

"Shh, shh, don't cry." the man soothed. "It will all be over soon."

The ghost's sobs were the only sounds made in the area for several minutes. And then…

"W…why?" she finally croaked out.

The man pulled back his hand and brought it up to his face, one finger pointing upwards, and his still-present smile – the same smile which earlier had seemed so friendly – was now the scariest thing she had ever seen.

"Now that… is a secret."

……

Moments later, dust exploded upwards as the frog-like hollow landed at the site. Sniffing the air, it made its way in between the iron frameworks, intent on finding its prey.

It suddenly started to turn back and forth, confused as the trail it had been following seemed to vanish into thin air inside.

It never caught in time the shadow that descended rapidly from the higher levels of the building, clawed talons poised to strike.

Blood splattered onto the iron beams.

END CHAPTER 7

* * *

PREVIEW:

Lina: ……

Unknown: ......

Lina: ……

Unknown: ......

Lina: The preview for the next chapter is a secret, isn't it? -.-

Unknown: Yup. ^.^

* * *

SHINIGAMI'S CUP. GOLDEN!

"Argh, I was so close!" Asano Keigo whined as he walked with his friend, Kojima Mizuiro.

"……"

Said friend had his nose in a book, seemingly ignoring him.

"I mean, did you see that girl? That red hair and those huge eyes, she was so exotic-looking! Her legs were like WOW too!"

"……"

"Darn it, where did I go wrong?!"

"Maybe it had to do with the fact that the first time she saw you, you attempted to tackle her down." Mizuiro supplied, finally looking up from his book.

"Ack!" Keigo yelled, stumbling as if hit by a physical blow. "But that was an accident! I just saw Ichigo's sister and her reddish hair and thought that it was Ichigo standing there!"

"Mistaking her for a guy. Also a huge way to win a girl over."

"Gah-Bakk!!" Keigo yelled, this time acting as if hit _two_ times.

"But I have to admit, that girl _did_ look cute."

"Huh? This is unexpected, coming from you, Mizuiro! I thought you were only into older girls most of the time."

"Mo-ron. Couldn't you tell? That girl was at least a few years older than us. Hence, she qualifies as my type as well."

"Uh, ok… Oh, man! With those legs, could you imagine how she would look like with our school uniform?"

"For once, you're saying something good."

The two smiled stupidly, a red line across their faces as they imagined Lina Inverse in the white t-shirt, red ribbon and grey miniskirt that the girls of their class wore.

Elsewhere, Lina Inverse (in gigai) halted as she ran, a shudder vibrating its way up her entire spine.

"What's the matter? You look all green suddenly." Karin said as she came to a stop next to her.

"I… I just felt somewhat violated all of a sudden." Lina groaned out, trying to shake off the nasty feeling.

"Hmm? If that's the case, why are you wearing that stupid smile as well?"

"Dunno. It's just that my ego feels _Great_ for some reason."

"…… Huh?" Karin replied intelligently.

"Aho! Ahou!" a crow cawed as it flew above.

* * *

**Author's notes:**

Darn it. I was hoping to surprise people with a really big chapter, but it ended up so big that I had to split it into two parts.

At least that means the next chapter is just around the corner.

Well, I'm back. Sorry for neglecting this story a bit, but I've been busy with other projects.

The whole deal with the artificial soul is that she's quoting Ayanami Rei from Neon Genesis Evangelion. A character who, like Lina Inverse, is also voiced by Megumi Hayashibara.

The shots with the crows are also a running gag in anime as a crow's call sounds like the Japanese word for "idiot".

Anyways, hope you enjoy, and please read and review. I've removed the setting that blocked reviews from people without accounts, but I wonder if that will even affect the level of reviews at all… Oh well.


	8. Chapter 8

**Bleached Slayer **

Chapter 8

"Kurosaki Ichigo."

"Hueh??" Lina blinked as she ran across the rooftops. The girl clinging onto her back repeated her statement.

"Kurosaki Ichigo! My brother! What do you know of him?"

"What do I know?" Lina repeated, frowning. "I dunno! He's the one who's missing, right? Why should _I_ know anything about him?"

"Because he is one of you guys. A shinigami."

"Ah - is that so? A shinigami, huh?" Lina mused, looking thoughtfully ahead of her until something hit her. "GEH! Wait… If he's a shinigami… Doesn't that mean your brother is dead?!"

"NO!" Karin protested vividly. "No, he isn't! I… I don't _think_ he is. He _shouldn't_ be." she stated, her voice trailing off as she looked down.

"Karin…"

"Look… I've seen him become a shinigami, but he's still been living with us at home like a normal person. Somehow he's able exit and return to his own body whenever he needs to. The same way YOU did."

Lina kept silent as she leapt from a rooftop, passing over a street down below. She didn't want to raise the point that the body _she_ inhabited earlier was a FAKE one.

Lina touched down briefly on top of a fence before she jumped to the top of a pole and then on to the next rooftop. Resuming her run on top of the buildings, Lina heard Karin continue in a weak tone.

"I've seen him hang out with others like you before. You're comrades, right? Don't you know anything about him at all?" Karin pleaded.

Lina sighed. "Sorry, kid. Like I told you, I'm… somewhat new around here. I don't really _know_ many of the other shinigami yet."

"I… I see." Karin sighed disheartened before she grumbled to herself. "Typical. I finally get hold of one of you guys, and it's an off-ways greenhorn."

"Brat, I resent that statement." Lina deadpanned.

Lina was two seconds away from giving this brat a piece of her mind - she may have been new to this shinigami stuff, but slaying monsters was something she had done since she was Karin's age - when she felt the smaller girl turn rigid on her back.

"…It's gone!" Karin breathed.

"What?" Lina called, looking over her shoulder at Karin. "What did you say?"

"It's gone!" Karin repeated, shouting. "I can't sense them any more! Neither the ghost nor the hollow! They… they just vanished!"

"No." Lina breathed. "Don't tell me that girl got eaten?!"

"I don't know! It's weird. I can't really tell what happened! It's like something clouded that area! I've never felt something like that before!"

"Can you tell where you last sensed them then?"

"Y-yeah! Just keep going straight!"

"Ok! Hang on!"

Pushing off, Lina flew high into the air, skipping across entire buildings with each jump as she made her way forward.

* * *

Before long, Lina reached the grounds of a construction site, touching down in a crouch as she landed. After allowing Karin to climb off, Lina rose to her full height and started to look around warily.

"This is the place?"

"Yeah, this was where I last sensed them. It's odd. I can still feel the residue here but I can't tell which way they – Ugh!!"

"Hey, you ok?" Lina asked alarmed. The smaller girl was suddenly clutching her stomach and had a horridly ill look on her face.

Starting to sway, Karin unsteadily made her way forward, walking almost as if in a trance towards the unfinished building. Stupefied by this sudden behaviour, Lina lingered in place for a few seconds before she finally followed.

"Hey, Karin! Karin! Kurosaki!! What the heck's the matter with you all of a sudden?"

They approached the various stacks of materials inside as Karin shakily answered.

"I can feel the fear and anger lingering in the air. Something happened here. Something _bad_. Urgh…"

"Whoa, keep it together now!" Lina yelled, running up to support the unsteady girl. "What are you, a clairvoyant or something? …… Well, I guess you _are_ by normal standards, being able to see spirits and all, but _this_ is going overboard!"

Karin huffed heavily as they stood there, Lina supporting her by holding her shoulders.

"…… Karin…" Lina breathed, concerned.

Suddenly, Karin's eyes shot up in alarm. She quickly turned around and threw her self into Lina, tackling her to the ground.

"Get down!"

"Whoa! What are you…?"

Lina's words died in her throat as something rushed through the air above them, a pair of talons swiping where her head had been split-seconds earlier.

Rolling over on the ground, the girls were able to see that what had whooshed by was a flying hollow, its size roughly three times that of a normal person. While its midsection looked humanoid, it had bird-wings instead of arms and talons for feet. Even the skull-mask on its face had a bird's beak – a beak that was stained with blood.

All in all, this hollow had the appearance of a giant harpy with a hole through its chest.

Flapping its arms/wings, the abomination hovered in between the iron beams of the building, screeching a bird-like screech as it regarded them with hostility.

"Skreeeeeeeee!!"

"What the heck? That's not the hollow from earlier!" Lina exclaimed as she got to her feet.

Karin, getting up beside her, regarded the hollow with a disturbed expression.

The hollow suddenly did a violent flap with its wings, sending a wave of feathers hurtling towards the girls. Lina's eyes widened as she saw the marks left by those ricocheting on the iron framework around them, indicating that the feathers were hard as nails and razor-sharp.

"Get behind me, Karin!" Lina commanded.

"Ok!"

"_BAKUDO #8: SEKI! ("Barrier")_" Lina shouted and braced her arms forward.

A transparent, circular barrier materialized in front of Lina, bouncing the feathers off as they hit. Karin was crouched down behind her, looking on with wide eyes as the feathers impaled themselves deeply everywhere around them.

"Skreeeeeee!!" the hollow roared angrily, flapping its wing to release yet another volley of feathers.

"Hah! You will have to do better than that!" Lina shouted defiantly as she released the shield and thrust her right arm forward. "_Hado #31: Shakkahou!! ("Crimson Cannon")_"

A red fireball shot out of her hand and hit the incoming volley of feathers, exploding immediately. While most of the feathers were blown away by the shockwave, some were still heading towards the girls.

"AND another! _Shakkahou!! ("Crimson Cannon")_" Lina shouted without missing a beat, this time thrusting her left arm forward to fire.

The blast from the second fireball took care of the remaining feathers, and the girls' clothes flapped as the wind from the shockwave travelled past them.

"Hehe." Lina smirked confidently, surveying the scene. She was relishing being in her element again.

"Do you always fight fire with fire?!" Karin exclaimed from behind her, slowly getting to her feet.

"Of course! That's half the fun after all!"

"Skreeee!!"

The harpy-hollow screeched once more and then started to charge through the air towards the girls.

"Tch! You wanna play that way, huh? Very well! Light Come Forth!!" Lina boasted and drew the glowing sword, its light illuminating the insides of the unfinished building.

*Poff*

Before it suddenly fizzled out just a few seconds later.

"What the?! AGAIN?!" Lina shouted with disbelief.

"What do you mean "again"?!" Karin yelled. "Does that happen frequently or something?!"

"Dammit, I thought that got fixed!" Lina moaned, shaking the unresponsive hilt.

The hollow screeched as it descended upon them.

"Shit! Grab on!"

Lina quickly fetched up the smaller girl and leaped upwards, just in time to avoid the hollow's swipe at them. Screeching angrily, the hollow turned around and flew up into the building, maneuvering past the iron beams of the framework as it followed them higher and higher.

Leaping from beam to beam, Lina placed the sword-hilt on its scabbard and positioned Karin onto her back.

"I'm going to need my hands for this! Can you hold on by yourself?!"

"Nh, Yeah! I can!" the sickly-looking girl assured her, grabbing hold.

"Good! Then here goes!"

Leaping so high that she flew out into mid-air above the building, Lina started to chant.

"_Scattered Beast Bones – Spire – Crimson Crystal – Steel Wheels – Move and make wind – Stop and make calm – The sound of warring spears fills the empty castle!_"

As she chanted, lightning swirled together in the palm of her hand, her arm stretched up above her.

Tossing said hand forward, Lina aimed down at the hollow inside the building-framework, flying up towards them.

"_HADO #63: RAIKOUHOU!! ("Howl of Singed Thunder")_"

A massive yellow lightning shot out of her palm, streaking towards the hollow bellow.

"Woah!!" Karin breathed amazed as the air crackled with electricity.

Lina smirked as she had cast the high-level spell successfully, knowing that the hollow had no room to dodge in time due to the iron beams surrounding it.

Her eyes widened in shock however as instead of exploding into the hollow, her spell seemed to spiral and dissolve as it hit the air just inches in front of it.

"No way!! A shield?!"

"Lina, look out!"

With the girls still in mid-air above the building, the cornered prey had become _them_ instead and Lina was unable to dodge as the hollow shot out of the construct and nailed her in the gut with its beak.

"Skreeeeeee!!"

"Aarghh!!"

"Lina!!"

Lina was thrust through the air, blood trailing from her stomach as she went. Having been shaken off from the impact, Karin clawed through empty air as she tried to reach towards Lina.

"Lina! Linaaa! - Urgh!"

As Lina had started to fall down the outer side of the building, Karin was grabbed by the hollow, holding her in its talon as it hovered above the construction-site.

While she had merely been grabbed, Karin instantly started to spasm as waves of images shot through her very being. It only lasted for a second and Karin fixed her disturbed gaze towards the hollow.

"Oh my god…" she breathed. "It's You."

The hollow screeched loudly into the air before arching over and shooting down towards the falling Lina.

"Lina, look out!! Linaaaa!!"

"Kuhhh…" Lina groaned in agony, weakly looking up at the incoming hollow.

Careless. She had been too fucking careless. Now she was going to die for her screw-up.

Again.

She closed her eyes, anticipating her final moment.

"Dash, Itegumo! ("Frozen Cloud")"

"Growl, Haineko! ("Ash Cat")"

"Wha-?" Lina exclaimed, hearing the two new voices.

Two flashes off motion and the hollow was smacked out of its trajectory, the talon holding Karin cut off and sailing freely through the air.

As the hollow crashed harshly into the ground, two female shinigami touched down gracefully close to the wooden fence surrounding the site, each one holding a smaller female in their arms.

"I-Isane!" Lina gasped, seeing who had captured her.

"Stay still, Lina-san. I'll heal your wound now." Isane said, placing Lina onto the ground and placed a palm on Lina's wound. The inside of her palm immediately began to glow with a white light.

"W-wait! Where's Karin!" Lina protested.

"Right here. No need to worry, Lina-_chan_." Rangiku sounded, singsonging the "chan"-part as she walked towards them and placed Karin onto the ground.

"Lina! Are you alright?" Karin exclaimed as she stumbled forward and sat down on her knees next to Lina.

"She will in a minute." Isane answered for her. "She's lost a bit of blood but other than that, she'll be fine."

The light in her palm shined on as Isane performed her healing-spell.

"There. That should do it." Isane said, raising her hand to reveal that Lina's wound had indeed closed.

"Phuu." Karin sighed with relief.

"Whoa! Fast…" Lina blinked.

"No sweat. Isane is the Vice-Captain of our medical division after all." Rangiku said with a grin.

"Not that I mind, but… what are you two doing here?" Lina let out.

"We… We were tracking a suspicious character to around this area when we happened to feel your reiatsu. Naturally we came running." Isane answered.

"Suspicious character?"

"We lost him though, darn it." Rangiku said, snorting with disappointment.

"Skreeeeeeeeee!!"

"Whoops. Looks like we'll have to finish this before continuing our conversation." Rangiku stated as she put a hand on her sword-hilt and turned around.

Across the grounds from the females, the hollow had gotten to its "feet" and was now screeching angrily at them.

As Lina attempted to move, Isane forcibly held her down.

"Don't." she ordered. "You're still too weak from your injury."

"Just sit there and rest, Lina. Me and Isane will take care of this in a jiffy."

"Wait!" Karin exclaimed as the two women got ready to fight. "That hollow! It's… We know her!"

"We do?" Lina exclaimed, confused.

"Yeah! It's the little girl ghost we chased earlier!"

"What?! That thing?!" Lina yelled, pointing at the screeching harpy-hollow.

"She must've turned into a hollow just minutes ago! Please, isn't there anything you can do?" Karin begged of the shinigami.

Rangiku patted Karin on the head reassuringly.

"Don't worry." she said with a soft look in her eyes. "Defeating hollows means freeing their souls and sending them to the afterlife. This is the reason we shinigami exist, after all."

Karin smiled weakly as she sighed with relief.

"Let's do this, Rangiku-san." Isane said, unsheathing her weapon.

"Indeed, let's." Rangiku supplied, unsheathing hers as well.

"Dash…!"

"Growl…!"

"I'm afraid I can't let you do that." A new voice sounded, cutting them off.

Lina's eyes widened, recognizing it.

"Huh/Wha-?" the two senior shinigami managed to exclaim before all the air was forcibly pushed out of their lungs. The two flew back as if rammed with invisible poles, flying into the fence where they remained pinned above ground.

"Nnngh!" Rangiku groaned, clawing at the invisible force pushing into her gut.

"What's going on?!" Isane gasped, struggling as well.

The four females looked up as they saw a figure appear out of thin air, floating between them and the hollow. A man who wore a dark purple tuxedo, a dark overcoat hanging from his shoulders, and wielded a wooden staff with a red gem on it.

With a smiley-face that reminded the senior shinigami all too much of the ex-captain Ichimaru Gin, the man smiled down at Lina.

"XELLOS?!"

"Harro! ("Hello")" Xellos greeted in mock English, waving happily.

* * *

**Intermission****. ..Just because. **

**Have **_**you**_** fed your mazoku or hollow today?**

* * *

"XELLOS?!"

"Harro! ("Hello")" Xellos greeted in mock English, waving happily.

"Myyy, it's been such a long time, Lina-san." Xellos said. "I'm so happy to see you alive and well. Whoopsy. My bad. You aren't really "alive" now, are you?" he said, putting a hand behind his head in a fake-awkward manner.

"Xellos…" Lina breathed as she gingerly got to her feet, still not believing her eyes. "After all this time, you're still alive?"

Besides his clothes, the trickster priest looked the same as he always had. Not even his hair was different. Of course, she knew that it wouldn't grow like human hair would, but some would expect a change of hairstyle at least during the length of uncountable millennia.

"Why, yes, as you can see. Personally I think I've aged rather well." Xellos smiled, stroking his wrinkle-free cheek. "Why, I don't look fatter to you or something, do I?" he jested and started to turn around so she could see him from different angles.

"Who _is_ this weirdo?" Karin groaned.

"Skreee……"

The girls blinked as they saw the hollow cower in Xellos presence, not daring to make a move.

"Xellos…" Lina blinked, suspicious. "Your timing showing up isn't a coincidence I take it?"

"That's Lina-san for you. I'm happy to note that you're as sharp as ever."

He floated over to the cowering hollow and nudged it on the head with his staff, the hollow fearfully twitching with each nudge.

"This child was just moments away from becoming a midday snack. _Naturally_, I couldn't just stand back and watch it happen so I decided to give her a fighting chance. The hollow chasing her didn't have a prayer." he smiled.

"A fighting chance?" Karin growled. "A fighting chance?! How dare you?! You son of a…"

"I see. I thought it was weird that her chain could have corroded so fast." Lina stated in a calm manner. "Nicely done, Xellos."

"Lina?!" Karin exclaimed, turning to look at her with disbelief.

"……/……" The two senior shinigami watched in silence, not knowing what to make of the situation.

Karin grabbed hold of Lina's robes angrily. "How can you just accept something like that? I've been mistaken about you, Lina!"

"It can't be helped. We were the ones who wouldn't have reached her in time." Lina sighed regretfully, making Karin blink. "This way we can at least still save that girl's soul."

"Exactly." Xellos smiled. "You've got to look at things from a higher perspective."

"But… It didn't have to be like _this_!" Karin protested and pointed towards the smiling man. "That guy is strong, right? Couldn't he just have _defeated_ the first hollow?"

"Actually, I'm amazed he even went _this_ far. Helping others in need is not something that is in that guy's nature." Lina stated, making the others blink. She then stepped forward to fix Xellos with a stare. "Which makes me believe there's an ulterior reason for you doing this, isn't there?"

Xellos simply smiled.

"You even gave her a few extra features, didn't you?" Lina continued, narrowing her eyes at him. "Like that anti-kidou shield for instance."

"Ding-dong. Correct" Xellos said, clapping his hands lightly. "I used this child so you would have motivation to accept the challenge of purifying her personally. Moreover, I wanted you to rely on something else than your magic to do the job."

"You mean my sword?" Lina exclaimed, sparing it a glance before looking back at him. "Why?"

Xellos lifted his hand up, holding up one finger in front of his face as he did his trademark wink.

"That is…" he began ominously, before finishing in an up-beat tone, "..something I expect you to understand yourself."

"Ghek!" Lina exclaimed, having been expecting a different comment.

"But no matter, I'd be happy to actually explain it to you for once. Just let me get rid of this child here and then we'll talk."

With that said, Xellos lifted his staff in preparation of bringing it down onto the hollow.

"I must warn you though;" he continued, pausing in his actions. "Because I am a mazoku, if _I_ vanquish this child here, I'm afraid she won't be sent to Soul Society. Or anywhere else for that matter."

"Hold on! I-I got it. I'll take care of it." Lina said and unsheathed her sword, the metal-blade attached.

"But Lina! You're hurt!" Isane exclaimed from her position nailed to the fence.

"No choice. It has to be this way. After all, I allowed this to happen."

Xellos vanished and reappeared between Lina and the women pinned on the fence. "Then if you'd please." He said, and motioned Lina to go into action.

"Wait! I'm responsible as well!" Karin stated, looking at Xellos. "I'll help her out."

Xellos placed a finger on his jaw as he appeared to give it some thought.

"Hmm. Very well, I see no problem with that." he smiled. "These two shinigami women will have to remain where they are though."

"Hey! You can't just expect us to…" Rangiku began, but was cut off by Lina.

"It's alright. We've got this covered." she said, waving her off.

Lina then stepped forward with Karin beside her.

"Are you even _able_ to fight hollows?" Lina asked Karin amused, her gaze not leaving the hollow which had resumed its aggressive stance.

"Better than you are at the moment." Karin stated confidently, also not taking her eyes of the hollow. Her sickly complexion had finally died down a bit, though her eyes looked dog tired.

"If you say so." Lina smirked. "You go right, I go left?"

"Sounds like a plan."

"Ok. Go!!"

The two girls exploded into motion, both circling the hollow in different directions. The hollow started to flap its wings, finally going airborne again, and started to sail towards Lina.

"Your sights are set on me, huh?" Lina mused and dived into a somersault to avoid the talon of the hollow's remaining leg.

As it turned around to make a second attempt, an object glowing with spirit-energy shot into its head like a cannonball and knocked it over. With the hollow off balance, Lina shot forward and managed to clip one of its wings with her sword.

As it flailed in agony, Lina leaped back to avoid being smacked by its other wing.

"Nice." Lina grinned, looking back at Karin as she landed. "I see you do indeed have some tricks."

"Yeah, well. I guess." The younger girl was currently balancing a safety hat onto her foot, treating it as if it was a soccer-ball.

The two watched as the hollow scrambled to get into and maintain an upright position as it now lacked an arm and a wing on opposite sides.

"You think you can keep it busy by yourself for a minute?" Lina suddenly said over her shoulder.

"Why? What will you be doing?"

"Some quick preparations. Just trust me on this one."

"..Ok, fine. Just get it done before I run out of ammo!" Karin said, referring to the stack of safety hats lined up next to her.

"Sure thing." Lina nodded. "Okay, here I go!"

With that Lina kicked off and ran across the construction grounds, going past the hollow.

Predictably, it tried to snap after Lina with its beak as she passed, but the hollow was taken down by another "spirit cannonball" to the head as it tried, courtesy of Karin. Lina grinned and successfully darted inside the unfinished building.

"My. I wonder what she may be up to." Xellos hummed as he stood watching from the sidelines, the two shinigami women behind him still struggling helplessly to get loose.

"Skreee!!" the hollow screeched as it got up and made to follow Lina, only to receive yet another blast to the head by Karin, halting it in its tracks.

"Oh no you don't, missy!" Karin boasted. "I'm your opponent!"

The hollow turned towards her angrily and leaned on the stub of its severed wing so that it could raise the other.

"Uh-oh." Karin said and grabbed a bunch of hard hats before she dashed to the side, the ones left behind becoming skewered as a rain of razor-sharp feathers fell.

Screeching once again, the hollow started dragging its way forward with its oppositely positioned leg and wing, its sights set on the darkhaired girl.

Skidding to a halt, Karin was now standing in the middle of the grounds, parallel to the building and fence as the hollow dragged its way towards her. Dropping one of the hard hats to the ground, Karin pulled back her foot and kicked hard.

"Eat this! _Beckham Shot!_" she yelled as she sent the hat flying, her spirit energy engulfing it as it became yet another glowing "cannonball".

The hollow staggered back as the blow exploded into its stomach. Karin immediately dropped two more hats and kicked them off in succession.

"Ooh. A double volley." Xellos mused, enjoying the show.

The hollow managed to duck under the first blast however, but in doing so brought its skeleton-mask directly in the line of fire of the second.

* * *

Inside the building, Lina was busy frequently jumping up and down the floors of the framework, carrying iron beams with her each time she jumped up.

"Heh! Gotta love this inhuman constitution." She chuckled to herself as she didn't have _too_ much trouble lifting the iron beams one by one from the stacks on ground level and take them with her to the floors above.

Let's not dwell too much on the fact that Lina Inverse had proven several times that she hadn't been THAT much physically weaker than she was now, back when she had been alive and - more than often –freaked out or enraged.

* * *

"Hah! I've got you now!" Karin shouted victoriously as her shot was racing towards the hollow's mask.

Her expression turned sour however as the hollow managed to shield its mask from the blast by pulling up its wing just in time. The explosion sent it staggering back a little, but it was more due to its poor balance than anything.

"Tch. Darn it!"

"Hoho. It won't go _that_ easily." Xellos chuckled.

"Shut up, fruitcake!" Karin shouted angrily from the other side of the grounds. She then turned her head towards the building. "Hey, Lina! Aren't you done yet?!"

Her response came as a metallic rattling from inside that started to come closer and closer.

Lina finally shot out of the building, pulling a large chain behind her as she ran across the ground. She then deviated her path (as the hollow was almost right before her) and made her way towards Karin.

"What's with the chain?" Karin shouted.

"You'll get it. Just toss me one of those helmets!" Lina called as she ran.

"O-Ok! Here!" Karin said and tossed one over.

Grabbing that hat, Lina skidded to a halt close to Karin, already busy with fastening the end of the chain to the hard hat. Done, she tossed it back towards Karin.

"There. Now kick it!"

"Ooh! So THAT's how it is." Karin said as realization seemed to dawn on her.

The hollow had regained its balance and was now charging towards the girls like a freight train. It blinked however as Karin tossed the hard hat she was holding upwards and then leaped into the air to deliver an overhead kick to it. The helmet & chain were sent flying, zooming by the side of the hollow's head.

While the hat initially missed, the chain it pulled along from inside the building reached its length and tightened, catching the hollow in its throat. This caused the hat to start circling around the hollow's neck, coiling the chain around it as I went.

The hollow decided to ignore this however and dove forward, dust and dirt exploding into the air as it hit the spot Lina and Karin had been standing.

The two girls landed safely to the side though as Lina had grabbed Karin and bolted at the last second. The hollow was now between them and the building as it got up and immediately started to charge towards their new position.

"Ok. Now what?" Karin asked as Lina put her down. "We may have it on a leash now, but it _still_ has too much movability for us to get a clear shot on its face."

"Don't worry." Lina smirked. "You didn't think a strategy made by the great Lina Inverse-sama would amount to just THIS MUCH, did you?"

Having said that, Lina brought up a hand and started chanting under her breath, a small light appearing on her fingertips.

"A magic spell?" Karin exclaimed. "But weren't those ineffective against that thing?"

"Yes, but I've worked my way around that." Lina said and aimed her hand forward. The charging hollow was right in her path. "Eyh!" she exclaimed and sent the little orb of light flying as if she was flicking a pellet.

The hollow didn't even _need_ its antimagic-shield as the small blast went sailing right over its head.

"Ah, you missed! And why such a tiny spell?!" Karin shouted, nervous over the fact that Lina showed no indication of moving out of the hollow's path.

"Wait for it." Lina smiled confidently, staring ahead.

The little blast that had sailed over the hollow continued forward in an 80 degree angle and entered the unfinished building. It continued on to the back off the building where it knocked into some loose iron beams placed precariously on the edge of the higher floor foundations.

The small explosion sent them toppling over the edge and as they fell a chain could be seen trailing after them, running over the high floor foundation.

Back outside, Karin was edging cautiously to the side, eventually half-hiding behind Lina. The hollow was almost upon them now.

"Um… Lina?"

"Waaait for it." Lina persisted, still looking confident.

As the hollow kicked off with a final dash to reach them, the chain running from the building could be seen tightening at a fast rate.

Just as it was inches away from reaching Lina and Karin, the hollow yelped as it suddenly had its neck pulled back harshly, and along with it its entire body. It was then pulled across the ground and towards the building, screaming the entire way.

"Hah! Perfect!"

Not wasting a second, Lina dashed in after the hollow, leaving Karin blinking a surprise over what had just happened before she followed as well.

As the hollow was being pulled inside the building and across the ground floor, Lina was once again chanting, this time revving up a big spell. The falling iron beams the chain was attached to had almost hit the ground, meaning that the hollow would stop at any second.

"_Oh Ye Lord - Mask of blood and flesh - All creation - Flutter of wings - Ye who bears the name of man - Inferno and Pandemonium - The sea barrier surges - March on to the south!_"

Karin entered the building just in time to see Lina aim her hands forward towards the third floor – where a large amount of iron beams had been stacked loosely just WAITING to be tipped over.

"_HADO 31: SHAKKAHO!! ("Crimson Cannon")_" Lina yelled.

The red fireball shot out and exploded into the center of the stacked beams, knocking them all over the edge. Karin had to bring up her arms to shield her face from the incoming rush of air that resulted as a dozen iron beams fell to the ground, making the ground shake as they impacted.

The hollow didn't have a chance as they rained mercilessly down, right on top of it.

The noise and dust was terrible, but Lina stood there unmoving, never taking her eyes off of the onslaught as her robes fluttered from the rush of air.

And then – finally - it was over.

Walking up slowly, Lina and Karin could see the hollow lying there screeching, unable to move as it was pinned down under a pile of iron beams.

Making their way around the pile and towards its head, the two girls looked down at it with somber expressions. Seeing this, the hollow paused in its screeching, seemingly meeting their eyes with a similar look of its own.

The two girls and the hollow were silent as they all seemed to know what came next, and further more, accepted it.

"… Go now… And find peace!" Lina said and thrust her sword into the hollow's skull-mask, impaling it.

After that, the hollow quickly dissolved into particles - but before it vanished completely, the two girls were able to see the hollow's true face as its mask cracked.

The grateful expression on the little girl's face left a bitter aftertaste in their throats.

* * *

"Well done. Well done." Xellos said, clapping as he walked over to the two girls who had finally exited the building. "Not exactly the way I intended for you to do it, but I guess you can't be faulted."

The two senior shinigami ran past him as they were finally released from the fence.

"Lina-san! Are you two alright?" Isane called as she and Rangiku reached them.

Ignoring her, Lina brushed past them, walking towards Xellos with an unreadable expression on her face.

"Lina…" Isane said softly.

Xellos stood there, smiling as always as Lina came to stand before him, her hair covering her eyes from view.

What she did next however was something none of them, not even Xellos, had expected her to do.

She put her arms around and hugged him, burying her face into the taller man's chest.

Xellos looked down at the small girl embracing him, his eyes open for once due to his surprise.

"Ah… Er… Lina-san?" he began, unsure on what to do.

"Xellos…" Lina said softly, her voice muffled from her face being buried in Xellos' tux.

"Y-yes?"

"..YOU GODDAMN PRICK!!" she snarled and, as she held onto him, kneed him harshly in the groin.

The eyes of the other females bugged out comically as Lina made the tall man collapse, a mix of agony and surprise on his face as he fell over.

He lay there on his knees, his head lowered to the ground as he clutched his groin. Standing above him, Lina dusted of her hands with an hmph.

"H-how cruel, Lina-san…" Xellos let out shakily. "To trick a man like that… If it hadn't been me you did it to… I would've been _proud_." he said, smiling weakly.

"Oh, suck it up! You know you deserved it! Besides, it's not even like you're a _real _man!"

"Still, even for _me_ stuff like this is painful…"

"What do you mean he's "not a real man"?" Rangiku asked as the other females came up to them. "Is he a eunuch or something?"

"Nah, nothing like that." Lina harrumphed as she crossed her arms, glaring down on Xellos. "This guy is a Mazoku. In other words, a full-fledged Demon."

"DEMON?!" Rangiku and Isane cried out in shock, clinging onto each other.

"That's right. Unless the system is _that_ different, now a days."

"No – no. I am still very much what you would call a demon." Xellos said as he shakily got to his feet, clinging onto his staff for support.

"I see." Karin said as she blinked up at the man, taking this surprising revelation in stride. "So that's what you meant by helping others not being in his "nature", earlier."

"You're taking this awfully well, aren't you?" Lina stated, gesturing to how the other women were clinging onto each other upon learning Xellos' identity.

Karin shrugged. "Mhe. Considering to what else I've experienced today, what does an extra step on the weird-scale matter?"

"Good point."

"But Lina-san. How did you end up with a DEMON as an acquaintance?" Isane asked as she and Rangiku slowly began to untangle themselves. "Um, no offense, mister demon, sir…" she added nervously.

"None taken." Xellos smiled.

"This guy was around even while I was a living sorceress. He was about thousand years old back then already, so… How old would that make you now?"

"Hmm. Unfortunately, not even _I _have been able to keep perfectly track over all these years, so let's just settle with saying "beyond ancient"."

"Che! That would apply for me as well then, wouldn't it?" Lina said, rubbing her scalp. She didn't like to thought of as that.

"Wait. Lina… You're an "Ancient One"?" Isane said breathlessly as both she and Rangiku started.

"Huh?! Ancient One? What's that?" Lina asked confused.

Meeting her gaze, Karin only shrugged.

"An "Ancient One" is a term used by Soul Society on spiritual entities dating back beyond the "Second Bang"." Xellos answered, making the females turn back to look at him. "Existences dating from a different world; these entities are even older than Soul Society itself so naturally the few remaining are referred to with some degree of respect."

"Not only that, but their spiritual composition is extremely dense as opposed to the norm, so they have potential to become quite powerful." Rangiku said, adding her two cents.

The two senior shinigami were now starting to see the reasons behind Lina's special treatment from the higher-ups.

"And Lina is one of these entities?" Karin asked, blinking. She may not be very knowledgeable about this "Society"-place, but the gist of the conversation was easy enough to comprehend. "Man, you're old."

"Hey!"

"We both are. No use denying it, Lina-san." Xellos smiled. "Let's carry our age with dignity."

"Shut up! Don't group me in with you! Besides, I've been sealed ever since I died, so technically that means I'm still young! Right?"

Lina twitched in anger as the three other females chose to look away conspicuously.

"Grrr, traitors! ..which reminds me." Lina let out and kicked Xellos' staff, causing the still wobbly man to hit the ground once again.

"Ouch!"

Lina crouched down and grabbed hold of the man's collar with a dead-serious expression on her face.

"Now tell me; what was this all about?! Why did you insist on me to rely on my sword?"

"Tsk, tsk, Lina. You know by now, right? For a shinigami, their sword isn't just a sword but their partners or better halves even. Each and every one of them has a distinct personality of their own, and for the shinigami to awaken their powers fully they'll need to be realized as such."

"Are you saying that's why the Sword of Light keeps acting up each time I try to use it in the living world?"

"Indeed. Since Soul Society is composed of spirit-particles, the sword is able to activate somewhat despite not being fully awakened yet. You can say it's sort of the opposite of when you tried to learn kidou."

"How do YOU know about when I – Wait, never mind. Of course you know." Lina groaned. "But… My sword is the Sword of Light! It never had that issue back in the old days!"

"Aw, but yes, you have to remember this isn't the old days anymore. The universe has changed and the rules with it. Until you awaken your sword fully, you'll never unleash your true powers."

"……"

"Lina." Rangiku began. "Do you perhaps not know the true name of your zanpaktou?"

"The true name?" Lina repeated. "Aah, if _That's_ the issue then there's no problem."

Lina got to her feet and pulled forth her sword's empty hilt. Taking a step back, the others watched as she shouted.

"Gorun Nova!!" Lina called out dramaticly.

……

Nothing happened.

"Grrr, dammit!" Lina growled, instantly resuming to shake Xellos back and forth by his collar. "Why the hell didn't it work?!"

"I told you already, the rules have changed." Xellos said smiling, simply taking the shaking in stride. "Until you realize your swords personality, you won't be able to awaken it fully. Based on whatever that personality may be, chances are its name is different now too."

"Hmph, I see." Lina sighed resigned as she stopped shaking him.

"That's why you'll need to work on awakening your true blade from now, Lina-san. It's a must if you wish to survive your upcoming challenges." Xellos said, bouncing to his feet the moment she let go. "Well, my work here is done for now. Let's not make it another millennia until next time we meet, Lina-san." he smiled and started to walk away.

X-Xellos, wait!" Lina said as she got to her feet, her voice suddenly more vulnerable than earlier. "I need to know! They others! Did they…"

"The answers are "Yes", "No", and "That is a secret"." Xellos said without turning around, his voice flat.

"You… I…"

Xellos raised his free hand into the air for Lina to see.

"Your questions were: Did your comrades get swallowed by the Giga Slave, did any of them "survive" the same way you did, and how did _I_ survive the cataclysm." he ticked off with his fingers. He then turned back around, facing her again. "Yes. No. And that is a secret."

"I-I… I see." Lina said, her shoulders slumping as she felt her thin, vain hope die.

While not understanding the details of their conversation, the other three females realized Lina lamented the loss of earlier companions and gazed at her with pity.

"As you know, while I'm fond of keeping secrets, I make it a point not to lie." Xellos said, looking at the silent Lina.

"Th-Then tell me!" Lina said finally, clutching her hand to the point where it hurt. "The Lord of Nightmares! Does _she_ still exist?!"

Xellos regarded her with an unreadable expression for several moments before once again starting to walk away, his staff making a clicking-sound as it made contact with the ground with each step.

"I'm anticipating the answer to that question myself." he finally said and then vanished, teleporting away.

* * *

"When she lived, the little girl used to be bullied by the boys in her class because of her timid nature and that she brought her dolly with her wherever she went.

One day during a recess, while there weren't any grown-ups looking, they nabbed the doll from her and threw it up into a tree so she couldn't get to it.

What they didn't expect though, was for the timid little girl to stubbornly try and climb up the tree to get it back herself.

The doll was hanging way out on a fragile-looking branch, but she paid it no heed. She was determined to get it, no matter what.

However, when her outstretched hand was just inches away from reaching it – oh, she was _so_ close - the branch cracked and broke under her weight.

……

She… She fell badly and died… Broken neck."

"..And understandably, her grudge grew as she haunted the school over the years, her actions starting to become violent as her chain became shorter." Lina contributed to Karin's explanation.

The two girls stood there silently behind the school, in front of the tree the ghost had been hiding behind when Karin first found her. The very tree she had died under.

Karin closed her eyes and pressed her hands together, starting to mutter sutras under her breath while Lina (now back in her gigai) crouched down and placed a small bouquet of flowers at the base of the tree - both of them paying respects in their own manner.

The two senior shinigami stood in front of the school, waiting patiently by the main gates until they were done.

* * *

"Nee? Are you sure you're alright with this?" Lina asked.

The smaller girl who had started to walk down the street stopped and turned back at Lina's question.

"Yeah. It's better this way." Karin said, smiling weakly.

"But they're _right_ over there!" Lina persisted, gesturing behind her to where the other shinigami stood, 20 paces away. "It'll take, like, _two seconds_ to ask if they know anything."

"It's OK. Really." Karin replied with a shake of the head. "Wherever my brother has run off to, I'm sure he has his reasons for it. He'll be back when he has done whatever he needs to do."

"Karin…"

"Besides, if Rukia-nee doesn't know where he went, then I _seriously_ doubt anyone else would." Karin half-muttered to herself.

Lina could only blink at the unfamiliar name before she brought up a hand to fuzz at her scalp. "Fine, fine. If you say so."

They stood there in slightly awkward silence for a few seconds before Lina continued.

"Well, I guess this is it then." she said, smiling weakly.

"Yeah." Karin smiled similarly in return. "If I don't get myself home, my worrywart sister will probably start to think I'VE gone missing too."

"Hehe, I see." Lina chuckled.

She then brought her hand forward, palm open.

"Take care, shorty."

"You too, "boy"."

As they shook hands they visually put pressure into their grips, their smiles looking strained as well. They finally broke off after a few seconds though and the smiles returned to normal, the two chuckling slightly as they stood there flexing their sore hands.

"See ya around." Karin said, waving as she ran down the street.

"Yeah." Lina smiled, waving back. She watched until Karin had disappeared down the block and out of sight before she finally turned and walked to where her "senpais" were waiting.

When she came up to them, Lina oofed in surprise as Rangiku tossed an arm across her shoulders, practically leaning onto her.

"Well, well. Looks like you've made yourself a little friend. And on your first trip even. Aren't you lucky." She smiled.

"Yeah. I must've been born under a lucky star, alright." Lina deadpanned sarcastically.

"Now, now. Things may have gotten a little hectic today, but all's well that ends well, right?" Isane smiled. "Besides, now you know exactly what you need to work on when you resume your training tomorrow."

"Ugh, don't remind me." Lina groaned, trying to push Rangiku's arm off of her to no avail. A vein on her forehead twitched dangerously as Rangiku's absurdly large breasts kept rubbing up against her cheek. "I wouldn't even have needed my sword if it wasn't for Xellos giving that hollow an antimagic-shield in the first place. So long as he isn't involved, I doubt it'll be much of an issue having to fight without it."

"That's not very likely, Lina." Rangiku chastised, meeting Lina's eyes from her position with a surprisingly serious look. "I know some pretty skilled kidou-specialists and even _they_ wouldn't be able to get by without having their zanpaktous to rely on. If you keep brushing this off as a minor concern, you'll be in for a world of hurt."

Lina gulped. The bustier redhead had some surprising depth to her character which most wouldn't expect because of her usual behavior.

Unable to protest against Rangiku's serious stare, Lina simply looked away (or as far as she _could_ look away with Rangiku's arm tossed over her shoulders).

"Tch. Fine. I got it." Lina replied, pouting. "S'not like I _needed_ anything but a normal sword back in the old days as long as I had my magic, but I got it." She muttered.

"Well, like that, err.. "friend" of yours said earlier, this isn't your "old days" anymore." Rangiku said, reassuming her casual demeanor as she finally got off of Lina. "While I admit I'd like to hear about that era, you'll have to adjust to the way things are now."

"Yeah, yeah. For the third time, I got it!"

"Good girl." Rangiku smiled, petting Lina's head affectionately to said girl's annoyance.

Isane simply chuckled at the display as Lina tried unsuccessfully to swat Rangiku's hand only for the taller redhead to fuzz up Lina's hair more energetically with each failed attempt. Isane then blinked as something hit her.

"Ah, before I forget, Lina-san. Could I please have my cell phone back now?" she asked.

The two redheads immediately stopped horsing around as Lina turned angrily at Isane.

"AAH! That thing was totally useless!!" she shouted, pointing accusingly. "I tried to contact you earlier with it when things first started to get out of control, but it wouldn't work at all! And you were even close by the entire time."

"Ah – eh, well…" Isane blinked, stepping back a little. "Ar-are you sure you used it correctly?"

"Of course I did! Look!" Lina reached into her jacket and fished out the cell phone. The two taller women viewed over her shoulders as she pressed away on the device. "Look, I'm doing it exactly the way Rangiku instructed, but it simply refuses to respond! None of the other buttons work either."

"Well of course they wouldn't, Lina-san. You haven't turned off the keypad lock." Isane stated.

"Hueh? Keypad lock?" Lina repeated, blinking owlishly.

"Yes, look." Isane said and leaned over, pushing two buttons on the phone. "It locks down the keypad to prevent any buttons from being pressed by accident, you know, as you keep it in your pocket and stuff. You disable it like this – there."

"……" Lina kept silent as she now found the device was responding to her actions. She pressed in the order she had been instructed earlier - and wouldn't you know it - something in Rangiku's pocket immediately started to ring, a catchy j-pop tune playing from her cell phone.

Pulling it out, Rangiku brought her phone to her ear before she answered. Mimicking the action, Lina heard Rangiku's voice echo through the device.

"Can you hear me, Lina?"

"Yeah, I can." She answered flatly.

"Rangiku-san…" Isane started, frowning slightly.

"Haha. Looks like I forgot to teach you about the keypad lock, huh?" Rangiku laughed, rubbing the back of her head embarrassed. "Oopsie."

"Hehe, "oopsie"…" Lina laughed in a sweet tone, all smiles, before her expression did a one-eighty and she violently tossed her phone into Rangiku's face. "**MY ASS!!**"

"OW!!"

"AAH! My phone!" Isane yelled as the device broke apart over Rangiku's face.

"You moron! Do you have _any_ idea how much trouble I could've avoided if it hadn't been for that!!" Lina screamed angrily at Rangiku as the taller redhead clutched her bleeding nose. Meanwhile, Isane was on her knees, disheartedly trying to gather up the pieces of her phone.

"Now, it just slipped my mind, Lina, that's all. No need to get so _angry_ over it." Rangiku whined, her voice slightly nasal.

She nervously started to step back though because of the sheer anger displayed on Lina's face.

"Angry? ANGRY?! I'll show you _angry_! **Get here!!**"

"Eeek!!"

"Ah – Hey!" Isane called as the two redheads took off down the street at full throttle, one chasing the other. "Lina-san! Rangiku-san! Wait up!"

She quickly poured the gathered pieces of the phone into one of the shopping bags standing there and then scooped up all of the them into her arms – which were more bags than just _one_ person ought to carry, really – before stumbling her way after the redheads.

"**RAAAAAAAARRRRRRHHH!!**"

"IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIHHHH!!"

The sun hanged low on the red sky above Karakura Town as incoherent cries of outrage and fear echoed through the air.

END CHAPTER 8

**Owari ha shinai****!**

(It's not going to end!)

Ending theme: "Revolution" by Megumi Hayashibara (Lina Inverse)

**Harewataru sora kara ochiru toori ame.**

(From the clear skies falls a passing rain.)

**Nagarete yuku kumo ni oitsukenakutte.**

(It can't overtake the stream of clouds.)

**Tabidachi no saki ni ha atarashii deai.**

(Beyond our departure lies a new encounter.)

**Demo nagasareteru you de ochitsukanakutte.**

(But it's as if I'm drifting and can't settle down.)

**Soredemo kono shunkan ni…**

(Even so, it's not like everything…)

**Subete ga owaru wake ja nai. Sou desho?!**

(..will end in this instant. Isn't that right?!)

**Akireru hodo nayami nuite****…**

(I don't need an answer that won't come…)

**Denai kotae ima ha iranai.**

(..unless I think it over until I become sick of it.)

**Hora hontou ha akiramete inai!**

(See, you haven't truly given up yet!)

**Mada mada ikou. Owari ha shinai.**

(Let's go again and again. It won't end.)

**I****ssho ni ikou. **

(Let's go together.)

**K****akugo kimete ne!**

(You'd better be ready for it!)

* * *

PREVIEW:

Amelia…

Zel…

..Gourry.

Through thick and thin, through the tough times and the funny ones, you guys were always there for me however grudgingly.

But because of my actions I won't ever be able to see you again, even now in the afterlife.

Even though an eternity has passed since then, I can't let go of what I've done.

My regret is darkness beyond twilight.

My despair is crimson beyond blood that flows.

* * *

SHINIGAMI'S CUP. GOLDEN!

"No… NO…" Isane moaned fearfully as she tossed and turned in her sleep.

Laying there on her futon in the dark room, she was sweating as terrible visions haunted her dreams.

"No… Please, no..!"

Isane had for once been enjoying her dreams where-in she had been a happy little butterfly, fluttering through the blue sky without a care in the world. That is, until suddenly a black tentacle suddenly shot out and grabbed her leg.

The sky immediately turned dark and stormy, and a second tentacle followed, both of them dragging her deeper into the darkness against her will.

As lightning cracked, she could suddenly see the source of her bane. A humongous, superdeformed Lina Inverse – her facial features a mix between a shark and a pacman – pulling her in with the two black tentacles/feelers extending from her forehead.

Monster-Lina opened her pacman-ish shark-jaws wide and lowered her captive down towards gruesome doom.

"No… NO… NOOOOOOOOOO!!" Isane yelled in her sleep, and with a jolt sat upright on her futon, clutching her blanket in an iron grip.

Breathing heavily as she sat there regaining her composure - sweat running down her face and dripping off her jaw - Isane slowly tilted her head to look where the jar of medicine she had purchased earlier that day stood.

Her features settling into a frown, Isane reached out and grabbed the jar so she could glare at it properly. She then turned towards the window and chucked it out with all her might.

"Humph… Stupid Junk! It didn't help me ONE bit." she humphed, annoyed.

"Really, now…? That's too bad."

"Yes, it is. I… Wait – who?" Isane began, then started as she realized she wasn't alone in her room.

Turning her head around, Isane froze and screamed in fright as right by her bedside in the darkness, Lina Inverse was hunched down, a flashlight held up under her face while she grimaced creating a ghastly image.

"Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeek!!"

"Hahahahahaha!"

"L-Lina-san?!" Isane finally stuttered, trying to calm down. "W-what in the world are you doing here?!"

"Haha. Consider us now _even_ after the shock you gave me last night." Lina laughed as she brought down the flashlight.

"OOUHHH!" Isane moaned. "LINA-SAN, that was so MEAN!"

"Oh, lighten up, sourpuss. It was just a little prank after all. See? See?" Lina grinned and shone the flashlight under her face again, leaning forwards as she grimaced. "Raarrrr."

"Eek, No! Stop it! Cut it out!" Isane whined, flailing with her arms in front of her as Lina leaned closer and closer. "Lina-saaaan!"

"RAH-rrrr!"

"I see. A flashlight, huh?"

"Huh/Wha?" Isane and Lina blinked, halting. THAT hadn't been either of them.

Turning their heads as one, they were met with the sight of a third person in the dark room, illuminating her face in a spooky manner by holding a candlelight under her face.

"Personally; I've always preferred using a candlelight." Captain Unohana said and smiled eerily.

Frail little Hanatarou - who was currently walking outside having the nightshift - stiffened in surprise as TWO identically frightened screams rang through the air of the 4th Division premises.

**

* * *

Author's notes:**

Holy, why do these things keep on GROWING?!!

Anyway, here ends the storyarc of Lina's first visit to Karakura town. I hope you people enjoyed it. As always, read and review.


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